The Deadly Feelings of Tennis
by Moonhera
Summary: Split into two groups in the Under-17 Tournament, Seigaku's regulars are separated with no contact between them, neither knowing how the other is doing. So what happens when the past brings back deadly feelings and deadly means?
1. Chapter 1

**I own nothing of the Prince of Tennis ... :( **

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The U-17 tournament had begun with around 300 members, which had been slowly whittled away to under 250 students, both high school and middle school. From these 250 people, they were told to play against one another, and even the Seigaku regulars were separated. The rule had been simple; those who lost were being sent home. Those who had remained at the camp were Eiji, Fuiji and Tezuka. The others who had lost, whom thought they would be going home were actually taken to a secret camp, where the most harsh of conditions to live and play in were used, starting with a long climb to the top of a mountain to actually reach there and the stripping of their previous identities of different groups.

Whilst unclear what the purpose of this was at the beginning, it was eventually concluded that both the main camp and the secret camp (only the tournament holders knew about the secret camp) were improving and they had improved greatly. With new determination, the secret camp set out on causing a new revolution against the main camp, but some could say this determination seemingly came too late.

Things had moved swiftly in the main camp, Fuiji and Eiji had been placed together on one team and Tezuka on the team above them. It soon became clear that Tezuka was not meant to be there and taking up on a pervious offer from the country of Germany, left with few words to become a pro. That's where things took a turn for the worse, although no one realised it at the time. Maybe if they had, they could have prevented it but seemingly it had started long before that, way back into the Kanto area tournament. There were some people whom could not let go of what was their hated passion for not being in charge and the ones whom had caused them pain.

These figures had become almost desperate for what the revenge they wanted and a plot had formed inside their minds, with one leader at charge. His tatics had worsened from when he had been a coach, his voice now deeper, his mind had been broken into tiny pieces and placed back together swiftly. If you could sense the aura from him, it would have been a pure blackness, one could have called him crazy, but that would have complimented him. No one would stop him, not now he knew what he was going to do and how he was going to do it, and it involved the precious U-17 camp that everyone was talking about. This man and the men whom had gathered around him were going to bring it down, in little pieces. They wanted to be in charge and that was what they were going to do, in any means possible.


	2. Chapter 2

Oishi stared out from the cave mouth, once again it was tipping it down with rain, a full out storm. It almost ironically represented the feelings that had been circling around since four nights ago when a full out revolution had been declared by the sensei against the main camp. Oishi could still remember the hatred behind the man's words when he spoke of his dislike on the people running the U-17 tournament; it had made him shudder with excitement but also left a cold feeling in his bones. A cold feeling that hadn't left him since that night, but in its own time had expanded to every muscle, every heart beat and every breath he gave. It was giving him an annoying headache which wouldn't leave him.

Unlike popular belief that you could be given dreams in fore-warning for these cold feelings he had no dreams. Nothing at night, pure sleep, pure darkness and it was blissful and soothed him from pain and aches of his muscles from the long days of being chased by various things, various dangerous things … This secret camp wouldn't stop for nothing, and they were going all out, partly because although sleeping in caves and being chased by eagles had improved their tennis skills, a warm bed would be nice.

For Oishi however, the main reason was to turn this barbaric system on its head, tennis was a team game and people shouldn't have to watch their friends walk away, like Eiji watched him walk away. He remembered how the acrobatic boy had refused to win, even though the out come had been clear. In the end Oishi had convinced Eiji to win, and had left with him his racket. With a long sigh he wondered how his doubles partner was doing, Fuji was with him and so was Tezuka, although he still didn't rely on them to keep Eiji out of trouble.

Smiling Oishi leant back against the hard stony mouth of the cave, shaking his head. Why was he worrying about the others? They would see each other soon, and it wasn't like the fact Eiji couldn't get himself out of trouble, he just needed support at times. He had others to do that for him, mainly Fuji whom Eiji shared classes with. It didn't stop Oihsi mother hen side coming through though. He stood and stretched slightly before hearing light footsteps behind him and a voice floated out, "still thinking about the others at the main camp Oishi sempai?"

Oishi turned and looked at the young boy whom at the near beginning of this school year had been placed in this school and turned most of everyone's world upside down. Echizen Ryoma. The young tennis prodigy of Seigaku; much like Fuji was the tensai of the regulars. Everyone had their own unique skill but in the nationals it had been recognized that Echizen had been the one that had encouraged everyone through, supporting them, making them stronger. Stronger than anyone, he had been the reason they had become the national team of Japan, beating Rikkadi. "Yeah and muddling it up with memories of how we managed to get here." He said giving a smile to Echizen. "I didn't realise you were awake Echizen, it will be another rough day of training tomorrow. You should get some rest."

"So should you Oishi sempai, we do the same training. You should also stop worrying about other people for once and worry about yourself for a while."  
"Echizen …"

"Hai Oishi Sempai?"

"Go to sleep" to which the answer came a sigh from the younger boy's lips.

"Mada Mada Dane Oishi Sempai," and with a tug of the cap which hardly ever seemed to come off Echizen's head when he was awake, the boy turned and clambered back to his sleeping bag, passing silently through the mass of people. Oishi watched until Echizen's cap had been removed and he became still, hopefully through the pull of sleep.

Indeed it was unlikely to be an easy day tomorrow when the sensei would come at 3am to wake them, to train, to make them prey of nature so they may get better. Inui would probably say something like 'the chance of a relaxing day is 0.001 per cent.' Oishi gave a muffled half laugh behind his hand, how could he expect anything but that from Inui, the data tennis specialist? He was glad for one thing though; he wasn't alone from Seigaku (although he would have preferred the part where Momo hadn't had his wrists badly damaged). It was more than what he could have asked for. Still, there was a longing within him to know if Tezuka, Fuji and especially Eiji were alright.

He turned his back towards the cave mouth entrance, the chilled area outside from the position of the cave on top of this mountain, far from any civilization and very few access routes, although Oishi himself had only been up one of the access routes, according to the ones whom had been told to go and steal some Sake for the annoying monk sensei. He still didn't know what to make of the man just yet, he had suddenly changed his spots almost in a flash when all the high school and middle school students turned on him and burnt his precious stack of Sake bottles to the ground on an open bonfire.

Weaving his way through the sleeping people Oishi stopped at each one of his team mates that had managed to be sent here. Sleeping they looked peaceful; hopefully that peace would not be disturbed until necessary. Sliding into his sleeping bag, the vice captain of the Seigaku boys tennis team stared for a while. He could also feel the pull of sleep but the cold which was currently settling in every nook and cranny of his body seemed to have increased its power, giving him the sense that maybe the date set for the revolution on the main camp would be too late. But all eyes must close to sleep, and in sleep all fears and worries are washed away, even cold forewarnings are forgotten.

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**I will try and get the next chapter up soon but uni takes all first point of calls and can even skip the line. So if I don't get it up soon, please bear with me. But reviews would be nice.**


	3. Chapter 3

Eiji walked with his hands looped around the back of his head, and a slight more stiff approach to the way he stepped. 'Deep in thought' Fuji thought from behind, 'a rare quirk you see from the acrobatic player of the team.' Both boys had done their daily warm up exercises from the long list that had been posted on the notice board which everyone had to look at and had been excused for a small while, due to the fact neither of them had matches on court 6 today. It had been a few days since Tezuka had left the camp and to leave the country for Germany, Fuji reflected. It was his chance to become a professional, how could he not take it?

He sighed before looking at the boy in front of him, best friends almost since they started middle school. That had been an interesting day, when the young boy had almost bounced into the class. Fuji had almost immediately recognized the fact that he needed to befriend this young boy. Partly because the innocence that had poured off him was something that would be good in the long run. Good for Fuji to use anyway and he had certainly used that innocence to get around Eiji, and somehow the other still seemed to keep a lot of that cheerful happiness. Eiji's trademark; the bouncing, happy, energetic acrobatic, cat like tennis player of Seigaku. This camp had shaken Eiji, being separated from Oishi, even if he didn't admit it.

Eiji turned and looked at his friend whom seemed lost in the dream world. He stopped and waited to test his theory and sure enough he was right, Fuji walked past him without any comment and not even recognizing it. "Fuji" he whispered coming up behind his friend, "Fuji …" he repeated, waiting for a response that never came. "Fuji!" he said loudly right next to the tensai's ear, trying to wake what ever spell had rested over his friend. The tensai jumped what seemed like half a mile and turned to look back at Eiji with eyes wide open. Eiji shook his hands as he stepped back, "I was trying to get your attention Fuji. You were in your own little world" and with those words his hands were clasped around the back and he jumped forwards looking at his friend. "What were you thinking Fuji?" he asked, cocking his head to one side.

Fuji smiled and turned back facing the way they had been walking to begin with. The campus was large and complex with high tech modern facilities to watch all the players and see what level they were all on and how to improve their techniques. Eiji and himself were taking a walk near the edge of the boundaries; Fuji had wanted to take some pictures of the natural woodland area in one corner. Yet somehow he had become more interested in what Eiji had been thinking, than the photos. Eiji thinking was always serious business. "How lovely this area is and that it remains untouched from the modern facilities for people like us to see and experience." It was true enough that the area had no cameras and was fairly wild. "And what kind of photos I want." Fuiji added closing his eyes again with a smile and lifted the camera from its position around his neck.

"Nya, Fuji, that's not an answer," Eiji replied doing a one handed back flip away from Fuji. All Eiji got as a reply to that comment was a quick flash of the camera in his direction to which he stuck his tongue out. "Nya. Fuji!" he said complaining with a wide spread grin across his face before hopping away deeper into the trees and out of clear camera shot, purposely making sure that he wasn't there long enough for him to bring the camera back round again. He enjoyed trying to make things hard for the tensai, partly due to the fact that Fuji always somehow managed to get his way in the end.

Eiji knew Fuji well enough to know that Fuji wanted something he would find a way to have it, not later, but now. Playing to his opponents' expectations, or hopes or dreams and then shattering them within a single shot. If he went up as an opponent against Fuji, it probably would be over within a short amount of time, never mind how much stamina Eiji built up, Fuji was someone whose level was far higher than he could ever dream of playing in singles. Thinking of singles made Eiji remember the rest of the team who weren't there, Oishi in particular.

Once Fuji had stopped taking photos and Eiji had made sure, you could never know with Fuji, he scampered back out. "Fuji, do you think Tezuka would have told the others about going to Germany? Nya, Inui would have probably found out and told them and then they would have gone and seen him off. I wish we could have seen him off Fujiko." He said adopting the childish nickname that he had given the other boy. Fuji looked surprised, it was rare to hear that nickname him whilst here at the U-17 tournament, reasons being Eiji hadn't used it in quite a while. Fuji tilted his head, "I'm sure Inui would have found out and just because we couldn't be with him when he took off didn't mean that we left him. He'll be taking part of Seigaku with him to Germany Eiji." He said placing a hand upon the red head's shoulder.

"Hoi hoi!" Eiji said, head coming up from where it had been staring at the ground and jumping back. "Your right Fujiko. Nothing to worry about. Nya!" he said in a bright clear voice. "How long do you want to spend here Fuji?" he asked, bouncing around once again, unknown that Fuji already had the camera up and running and was taking pictures.

"Maybe another half an hour" he muttered from behind his camera. Eiji turned and saw the camera there and gave a one handed cartwheel into the trees again.

Laughing Fuji shook his head and turned back to taking pictures of the nature but all seemed quiet. Way too quiet, the animals had fled, not from the noise Eiji and himself had been making because they had been around for that, so something else. He lowered his camera frowning as a sudden sharp crack echoed against the back of his skull. Fuji fell to the ground, 'that felt like the frame of a tennis racket. Is this one of the high school student's idea of a joke?' his mind murmured to himself. Everything had gone dark but he could hear a voice, Eiji's voice. "Fujiko? Fuji!"

'Eiji run' but his mouth would not move, his tongue heavy.

"Who are you? What have you done to Fuji!" Eiji's voice was full of panic. "Leave him alone! Don't touch him! Fuji! Wake up!"

'My body won't move Eiji. I can't move' Fuji tried calling out but once again it only came out in his mind.

"Leave Fuji alone! Someone help!" Eiji was yelling, his voice filled to the brim with panic. Fuji wished he could calm him but he couldn't even open his eyes. "Someone hel…" Another loud crack of something hitting something. Eiji's voice stopped and a steady cold voice replaced it.

"Oh look at that, you've got blood on the frame now."

"Well never mind. We got two of them, so I'll just get one of these things," came the reply as Fuji felt a sharp pain to his back, a kick presumably "to clean it up." That kick clicked with something in his head. He had heard one of those voices before, somewhere …

"Your not planning on letting them use nice clean cloths are you?" The voice, it was cold, deadly … it meant harm …

'Who did it mean harm to?' Fuji's mind whispered, 'me? Eiji'

"Of course not, you know me and you know what the boss is like, he would …" Fuji heard no more from the companion's reply as his mind switched off along with all other senses as he lapsed into unconscious.

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**demoncat13: Arigatou gozaimasu! I corrected that and thank you for telling me!**

**EcstaticPetenshi: YAY! I'm gald you think so. Well you were in good timing. I was typing this chapter up when I got your review, so here you go ...**

**And now I am going to run away ... I don't want to be in direct view of any people that want to hurt me for hurting Eiji and Fuji (I LOVE BOTH OF THEM BY THE WAY!)**  
***runs!***


	4. Chapter 4

Tezuka jolted up from the bed he had been sleep on and looked around, cautiously, something felt amiss and out of place, but he had barely even unpacked his stuff so there was nothing wrong with the room. He placed a hand to his forehead, checking to feel if it warm or something before giving a slight scowl and bringing it back down, he had picked some of Oishi's mother hen habits. He was going to have words with that certain someone when he next saw him, long winding certain words, probably ending his speech with a 'run 50 laps!'

Tezuka collapsed back on to his bed, blinking as he looked up at the ceiling. Although he would never admit it out loud, he did miss the team that he had lead to nationals and won with. Japan's number one team, Fuji had even caught him smiling at the end (he didn't know about the camera filming behind him, being held by a certain data specialist of the team). Now he was moving up in the world, caught by many an eye.

He was certain that others from the team would become pros, they would all be great players and that the U-17 tournament would be a great chance for Fuji and Eiji to improve, and the others would not be far behind. So why could he not get this uneasy feeling out his head that maybe he should have stayed at the camp? Sighing Tezuka tossed over and closed his eyes again. It was only 3am in the morning for the Germans!

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A fast paced noise could be heard from the forest area surrounding the make-shift court that the secret camp had; which was basically two poles stuck in the ground, lines drawn hastily out with paint and a net stretching across the middle. All those who were at the secret camp started their day early, normally about 3am, which meant if you hadn't got a good night's sleep then you would be extremely tired the next morning by the time warm up ended. That would not abode well with the rest of the days' seclude.

It had been 2 or 3 days since Oishi had talked to Ryoma on that night, and the cold feeling had finally left him last night. He had felt so relieved when he had woken up the next morning and not felt any burden of heaviness, or a cold ache clinging to every fibre of his body. Even today's task of trying to outwit or at least out run a wild bears because the coach had coated them with disgusting smell and sent them off.

Oishi looked over at where he had heard the loud noise and followed it cautiously, only to be nearly knocked down by Momo and Kaidoh having a race against each other. He jumped out of the way, watching them disappearing with wide eyes, even when in the middle of trying to lose bears they still somehow managed to find a way to bicker with each other. Hearing a long growl behind Oishi looked behind him and raised an eyebrow before following Momo's and Kaidoh's tracks swiftly, away from the bear that had stood behind him.

"I will beat you viper!" Came a loud shout which echoed through out the forest, all the bears forgotten about in this two man race to the log cabin which their sensei lived in. "You can never beat me!"  
"Fuushu," was the answer that came from the running man next to him as he stepped up the pace.

"Last one there will have to drink one of Inui's concoctions!" Momo said pushing branches away as he passed them, although he ducked to avoid what seemed heavier branches in the distance.

His wrists were still wrapped in the bandages from when they had been badly damaged with the amount of power used by his opponent in the matches. He remembered he had refused to stop playing, even picking the racket up from the ground in his mouth and placing it in his hands that way. However it seemed not to be because Momo, despite of his determination, had been sent here instead because he had lost. Like Kaidoh had lost to Tezuka, although that was not surprising seeing as the captain was like a pro himself. It was also unsurprising to notice that the rivalry still existed between Kaidoh and Momo but noticeably it had come obvious that both of them were willing to support one another if in need, even If they wouldn't admit it themselves.

As both second years burst from the tree line the bear was close behind them, not giving up the chase. Momo and Kaidoh were oblivious to this fact until they heard it roar behind them. Frowning they turned as one and looked at the bear, Kaidoh giving a long hiss and Momo tight lipped. They both separated and disappeared behind a separate wooden hut. They returned only seconds, later with rackets and some moving up and down in one hand.

Inui watched from the tree line, as did everyone else who was at the secret camp and near the place. "Possibility of achieving synchro within the next 5 years if they continue to play together is 83%" he muttered to no one in particular. "Possibility of loosing to the bear 0.01%." he said as he watched two rocks lift up in the air from both the left hand of Kaidoh and that of Momo's, before hitting it as one towards the bear. "Possibility of hitting the area between the eyes 98%. Possibility of knocking the bear out 100%" Inui said as the rocks did indeed fly in the exact same spot between the eyes, thus knocking the bear out with the power and control in Momo's and Kaidoh's serve. "Momo has achieved a 65% increase in control and a 43% increase in power, whilst Kaidoh has achieved an increase of 74% in power and a 46% in control. I data, I data" he said muttering to himself as he took notes in his head to jot down later. There was no way he was going to bring his precious notebooks out here.

"What are you doing Inui?" Oishi said coming up to him from behind, now that the bear had been knocked out it was safe to come out, for the harsh training had been dealt with.

"Ah, Oishi. I noticed in your running that your speed has increased by 34%, seems the camp is doing things for you." Inui said looking at the vice-captain of the Seigaku regulars.

"Seems they can work together when they really want to," Oishi said nodding to Momo and Kaidoh, "they have less arguments these days."

"However the probability that they will start another argument within the next 5 minutes is 100%" Inui said pushing up his glass. Sure enough as soon as Momo and Kaidoh had got their breath back, they started bickering about who had knocked the bear out, the race they were in the middle of doing forgotten, the fact that they served at the same went unnoticed by them. Oishi's shoulders sagged as they then took it to the next level and started fighting; he hoped that once Inui's predications could be wrong when it came to them two and arguments. He started his walk towards them in hope that he could break them up.

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**demoncat13: I never thought I would say this, but I think I may have to rescue my bad guys. I kind of need one of them but tell you what, after the story is finished I'll let you rip them to shreds, or maybe I'll you rip them to shreds in the storyline ...**

**EsctaticPetenshi: Well, I don't even know if they will be alright until I write that chapter (which probably will be the next one). So I can't tell you if they are alright or not ... nya, I don't even know what's going to happen in my story. I have a basic outline in my head, which will probably change and alter over time. **

**Reviews please! I want to know how I am doing with my story ... it would be nice!**


	5. Chapter 5

Somewhere in the black space, he started to feel something. Stars, they twinkled dimly and were few and far between. Was he in some sort of observatory or something, watching the stars? But he was on his back, why was he laid out? A hard wet ground; that was what he was lain out on. A pounding against the back of his head. A headache pounding away at his brain. Had he gone to sleep? He couldn't remember going to sleep. The stars started to flicker out one by one before more started to form around a figure. That person was calling him. What was his name? His name … Eiji … no that wasn't right. Eiji, was he the one calling him? What was he calling him … "Fuji!" came the cry again. Fuji? Was that his name? Yes Fuji! Eiji, the U-17 tournament, the camera, taking pictures, a tennis racket … "Eiji run!" he cried opening his eyes and bolting upright, making the other figure scoot away quickly.

"Nya, I would love to Fujiko," came the voice out of the darkness. "But the only way out of here is a door and I already tried it. It's locked Fujiko." Locked?

"Where's here Eiji?" He asked before hissing in pain, clutching at the back of his head throbbed quite painfully.

"Fuji!" Eiji said scurrying back to his position besides him. "Don't try to move so much. You were hit with the racket with some force, its left a small cut. Lie back down" he said placing a hand on Fuji's chest and one of the back of the head, below where the cut was, and pushed him slowly to the ground.

Eiji smiled and moved his hands away after he was sure Fuji was in a comfortable position and looked around. It was incredibly dark, with no light coming in anywhere; it had taken a while for his eyesight to get used to it. "Your eyes will get used to the lack of light soon Fuji."

"Lack of light?"

"Hoi" he said sadly, "there's no window in here and the door is so tightly packed against the frame all around. Those men in the black masks must have brought us here after they knocked me out." Eiji placed a hand on the back of his own head glad that the darkness at least made it impossible for Fuji to see that movement. He had been awake for what seemed like hours and had gotten used to the headache, in fact it was fading steadily. "I didn't realise there was two of them, I could only see one and … you" he whispered. That had been a scary sight, seeing Fuji there, on the ground and not moving. Then Eiji remembered the other thing he had seen. "Fuji."

"Yes?" came the steady reply from the ground, followed by a long breath and a successful attempt to sit up. Eiji didn't make a comment on that, more concerned by what he had remembered.

"Your camera … when I confronted that man … he had, he had destroyed it Fuji" he said softly. "I'm sorry, I should have tried to stop him earlier, or been with you and … and then I could stopped him or you could have stopped him … then we …" Eiji was working himself up into a panic. Fuji frowned and sighed placing a hand upon his head as he tried to think.

"Eiji, there are other things that he could have destroyed that was more precious than my camera. Don't worry about it." Fuji said giving a genuine Fuji smile with eyes closed, thinking of how close it could have been that Eiji and himself could have been destroyed instead of a camera which could be replaced, however annoying that maybe.

Fuji's eyes had finally got used to the lack of light and he was able to look around now without any too many problems. He scanned over what was the room that the two men had placed them in it looked like a basement without a window. There were some step stairs leading up to a door at the far end of the square room and there wasn't anything in the room apart from Eiji and himself. It was only then he noticed the almost deathly chill about the room. Almost like an automatic reaction he hugged himself to keep himself warm, but stopped when he felt his arms brush against his skin. Looking down he noticed that his top had been removed.

"Nya. They had already done that by the time I woke up. I've been jumping around for several hours, but I'm getting tired" Eiji said looking over from where he was rubbing his own arms, topless, "it's like a freezer in here!" Fuji couldn't help but agree, it was so very cold.

"Have those men been back yet?" he asked the acrobatic player, who had come and firmly plonked himself next to Fuji.

"No." Was the abrupt answer, "Nya! I half wish they would though. It's too weird Fujiko!" Eiji looked over at the tensai. "I didn't even see their faces because they had masks on. I wonder if anyone has noticed back at the camp we're missing." He pondered

"Eiji, I'm sure someone would have noticed and informed the security, they had enough cameras about the place. I'm sure someone would have noticed." The question is how quickly would they notice? Fuji wondered, they hadn't really been needed today and they had already done their entire warm up schedule. They didn't have anyone they had to report into, only to be at the warm up at the next morning and neither of them had really gotten on as well with the other players.

"Hoi!" came the cheerful voice, "someone would have by now!"

Just then the door flew open, daylight spilling in behind it but because it was on the other side of the room Fuji and Eiji took no time to be able to adjust to the new light. Both boys quickly jumped to their feet as a figure walked, presumably with another person just behind because they were talking.

"Boss, these are the boys we managed to get. We couldn't risk going any further into the complex, but their from the Seigaku team." The voice from the person they couldn't see was filled with disgust and so familiar, but Fuji couldn't place where he had heard it before. One of the men who took them, yes, but from before that. Somewhere.

"I don't care what team they are from, they where found on the camp grounds, so they are good enough." The 'boss' said looking at the two boys. He was tall and lean, blonde hair and stood with a step of authority about him, of a man who didn't like to loose. Fuji frowned, the man was dressed in a polo shirt and shorts, and had his hands in his pockets. The man's face held a long sneer at them before looking at the person whom they couldn't see yet. Somehow the man reminded him of Kevin Smith, the boy from America. He shook his head and waited to see who would come out from behind the door if he ever would.

"Hey! Why did you knock us out and take us?" Eiji shouted suddenly from besides Fuji. The tensai nearly jumped but composed himself, placing a firm hand on Eiji's mouth.

"Fuji?" Eiji asked with wide eyes as he looked at his friend, whom eyes were wide open and looking at him with a serious look.

"Shush" Fuji whispered, although Eiji might not realise it but these men had already caused harm and seem readily able to do it again. In a way Fuji was glad that Eiji was innocent enough not to realise this but it meant that Fuji would have to find some way to keep him from burying themselves into deeper trouble.

"Yes, listen to your friend child. He seems to understand when people are meant to be spoken to." The boss person said before turning to the man hidden by the door, "You can start your training today if you so see fit." That was the man's last words as he walked out and the man he had been talking to walked in with a proud look across his face. He was bald, still looking like he had polished it, and fat as he had been when they had last seen him. He still wore the same green/grey polo shirt and gold necklace around his neck. Only this time he held a gun in his left hand and a tennis racket in the other.

"You!" Hissed Fuji, whilst Eiji stood there wide eyed behind Fuji's hand. Fuji quickly realised this and dropped his hand to his side again, eyes still on the man whom had appeared.

"Hmph" came the quick reply from the man, "you two better hurry up outside. Your training is waiting for you."  
"What training? I thought you had retired" Fuji asked confused and angry, that gun was still pointed at them.

"I retired from teaching loosing middle school teams, but you two are winners and therefore you are applicable for our training. Anyway hurry up outside, or I'll be forced to shoot you two and first it will be towards one of your legs, second the other leg, third your non-playing arm etc. Now hurry up, you've got until I count to 10."  
"Don't we at least get our shirts back?" Fuji asked, Eiji was holding his wrist tightly.  
"10 …" the countdown had started.

Fuji growled and gently taking Eiji's arm lead them outside, into warm sunlight, to where another man was waiting with several machines, Fuji counted about 7 and a tennis racket in one hand on what appeared to be very badly maintained tennis courts. That hateful man had come out behind them and grabbed Eiji by the shoulder pulling him backwards away from Fuji. He waved the racket towards Fuji, who took it cautiously, "You're to play first. You're to hit every ball that comes out of each machine, each time you miss one that man over there is going to punish you." The man in question let the tennis racket in his hand fall smack into his other hand quite sharply.

"And don't think you can't play. Not if you treasure your friend at all" he said menacingly as he squeezed Eiji's shoulder even tighter. Eiji squeezed his eyes shut tightly as he felt the gun dig deeper into the back of his left leg.

"Eiji" whispered Fuji before turning and standing on the court the opposite side of net of where the machines where. The man standing next to them smiled. Fuji frowned and looked at the machines, as they started to whirl. 'I promise we'll get out here somehow Eiji' he thought.

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**I fore-see a huge dislike of the man in this chapter. Oh see if you can guess the two characters that appeared! They are both in the series, not long but with enough spartan methods to be in this. Oh and I didn't mean to get carried away in this chapter, I really do love Eiji and Fuji! I really do!**

**Demoncat13: I feel sorry for the bear as well but he did kind of get in the way of Momo's and Kaidoh's race, he should have known better ...**

**Reviews please! **


	6. Chapter 6

The day of the revolution had arrived and it had started even early than the normal practice time for training started. Oishi was still half expecting the sensei to come out and tell them to start warming up ready for another day of harsh training, he had probably found a wolf somewhere for it to chase them. Although he hated to admit it, this Spartan type of training had really improved their tennis skills; they had matches yesterday, after drawing out more courts for them to practice on. Some matches had lasted hours, while some had been called off because they had been going since the beginning of the day.

They were going to enter the main camp through the back entrance, where they would then spilt up into three separate groups. Some of them would be going to the gym and situating themselves there, using the facilities that they had been denied as part of the secret camp. The second group would be going to the fancy canteen they apparently had, where they would wait and probably warm up in the room. The third group would then go and take over the tennis courts, where they would wait for the other groups to round everybody up. Inui had been part of the planning group for this revolution and had predicted that short of the dorms, that was where mostly every student would end up being.

It would then be up to them to bring the high school and middle school students to the tennis courts, where matches would be held. It would be an interesting several matches and the offer was this. If the secret camp won then they would be able to decide what to do with the rest of the students and how their way of training would suddenly change to what the secret camp had been training like. If the main camp won then they would decide what to do with the secret camp. According to Inui's data skills from where he had somehow managed to hack into the main camp system, there was a 76 per cent of them succeeding and even if took several years it would only raise their chances by a mere measly 2 per cent.

The statistics where still way too low for Oishi's liking and Inui didn't like them as well, which wasn't strange seeing as Oishi was the mother hen of the Seigaku regulars and Inui was the data expert, they both wanted to make sure there was the least possible risk of something happening. It was something like Echizen would go say 'mada mada dane' to, and often did. Momo and Kaidoh had been too busy bickering this morning rather than listening to Inui and his statistics, as normal. According to the sensei it had taken 7 hours before the bear had finally come around and wandered off, away from the camp. Not that Oishi blamed it. Kawamura had been in burning mode ever since they had woken up and he had picked up a racket, for some strange reason, whatever anyone did they could not get the racket off Kawamura.

Everything had gone to plan; everyone had managed to infiltrate their chosen areas and was calmly awaiting the return of the rest of the team. Oishi stood next to sensei, waiting for everyone to arrive at the courts. It had been decided back at the camp that the best place for him and Inui was besides the sensei's side because they were the ones mostly in control of the situation and plan. Oishi was eager to meet the rest of the Seigaku regulars when they arrived, and to play against Eiji again. This time to a give match that they would be proud of, and that Eiji wouldn't regret winning as he had last time.

The feelings had returned two nights before, the cold feeling that clung to him well over a week before that, and it had come with a vengeance. Oishi's desire to see Fuji, Eiji and Tezuka and check they were alright had become noticed not only by Inui whom he suspected would notice but also to Momo and Kaidoh in the middle of their bickering. It had only been Echizen whom had come up and asked what was wrong with him. Oishi had only replied that he was worried about the revolution plan going wrong, to which he had received replies from everyone, admittedly a more comforting reply from Kawamura. It still didn't stop him being worried about the mission. Oishi only hoped he was able to prove his feelings wrong and be rid of this cold sensation, it was like he was experiencing Yagyuu knocking Eiji out on the courts, only several more times worse. Although Oishi was trying to be strong, inside he was scared, very scared.

But that had been yesterday and earlier on today, everything had gone smoothly, apart from Kawamura nearly destroying the canteen according to some sources because someone had leant him a racket by accident. According to the source that had been swiftly changed and nothing bad had happened. Momo and Kaidoh were still bickering in the background as they had been on the same team escorting some of the main camp students out to the tennis courts. Everything was going to plan; Oishi had to keep on reassuring himself. Until the alarm had started ringing.

Even the sensei was confused, it wasn't the normal alarm of when someone broke into the complex, the secret camp, well Inui, had switched the ones that would be in the way off. It didn't matter about having to get everyone rounded up because they were coming out on to the tennis courts already. The main camp were even more confused by the fact this strange alarm had gone off and the people they had thought that had been sent home were actually standing in front of them with tennis rackets. Oishi kept looking out for the other three Seigaku regulars but in the mass of people he couldn't tell if they had come or not.

The secret camp sensei looked up as the main camp administrators came out of their office block, where presumably they kept all the equipment. They looked concerned and one of them had a huge frown across their face. "Nyuudou" one of them said. Oishi looked at the secret camp sensei, was that his name? He never said. "I'm glad you came now Nyuudou" the man said.

"Saitou! What do you want?" sensei Nyuudou asked, Oishi looked over at the man camp sensei, Saitou? It was slightly annoying none of the senseis' had actually said their names.

"The revolution is off Nyuudou" Saitou said. "We've encounter a problem. We need both the secret camp and main camp together for security purposes. Two students have gone missing."  
"Have you checked their houses? Maybe they ran home because you scared them too much" Nyuudou said mockingly to which Saitou only glared.

"Yes, they haven't been home. No one has seen them. They didn't seem like the type of characters to run away to begin with."

"Fine, ruin my fun. Which two students have disappeared then?"

"Fuji Shusuke," Oishi watched Yuuta pale out of the corner of his eye, Yuuta had been with them in the secret camp; Kaidoh was steadying Yuuta with a steady hand on his shoulder. "And Kikumaru Eiji," Oishi looked swiftly back, mouth open, his own face going pale. He felt Momoshiro at his back, holding him still, although he could feel the younger hand shaking.

"Eiji" Oishi whispered softly.

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**For anyone that is reading and not reviewing ... the answer was Higa's coach, Harumi Saotome and Kevin's father, Coach Smith.**

**Demoncat13: Your my only reviewer on this story that's kept up with it (which is sad and good). Also ha! Your not going to like the next chapter then ... note to self, rescue bad guys before demoncat finds them ...**

**Reviews please! They would be nice ...**


	7. Chapter 7

Fuji hit the ground hard on his hands and knees, his breath coursing at an irregular rate through his body, eyes staring wide open. Sweat rolled of his face and onto the concrete ground, he watched it with the dim light that they had circulating the room. He could see scrapes littering the back of his hands and quietly he clenched them into fists. The smile which he normally wore had disappeared after what he presumed was two days in this place, but he could never tell because sometimes it felt like hours had gone by but was then informed it had been mere minutes or even a day. His eyes were always open now, trying to think of how to get out of here … how to improve so next time he wouldn't lose out on that point or that game. "Damn it" Fuji cried; hitting the ground with his fist, ignoring his back which protested at the sudden movement. Those men were getting into his head, his thoughts weren't his own anymore. Not only had they beaten and threatened Eiji and himself into submission they were now getting into his head!

"Fuji?" came the whisper from his right hand side; the light brown tensai looked at the fellow redhead whom had been caught in the same situation. Eiji was lain out on his back staring up at him, bare-chest and breathing just as hard as Fuji. They had been given their polo shirts back but they had been torn into so many pieces it would be impossible for anyone to try and put back together. So the pieces had been used to clean the many cuts, scrapes and bloody wounds that they had been given.

"I'm sorry Eiji" Fuji whispered, and upon the redhead's face there was a weak wisp of a smile that soon turned into a deep throaty cough and Fuji watched as Eiji launched upright in order to control it and hand covering his mouth and another one on his chest.

Fuji sighed and sat back on his legs, staring up at the ceiling, blinking a few times as Eiji's cough died down. He then looked over at the acrobatic tennis player and twisted his legs out from underneath him, placing a hand delicately on Eiji's left shoulder. "Let's wash your wounds Eiji" he said softly, reaching back and grabbing two scraps of cloth which had been their shirts.

"Hoi! Then I'll wash yours! And don't worry Fuji! I'm sure someone will find us soon" Eiji said smiling, taking one piece of the cloth before standing and wandering over with a slight skip in his step still. Fuji gave a long sad smile, how was it possible that Eiji could maintain his child like innocence? Yes, someone must have realised by now they were missing but there had been no panic or haste in the 'training' they had been receiving, nothing to indicate that anyone knew where they were, either that or they were very good actors.

"Fujiko! I can't wash your back whilst you're over there" Eiji said waving from where he sat next to the cold water tap that had been installed there. It leaked badly and there was an area of dampness around it, and from the fact the room was freezing during the day (it was worst at night, Fuji often found in the early morning, or at least what he presumed were the early morning wake up times, Eiji curled into a ball to keep himself warm. It didn't help either that they were still in the early part of the autumn months) you could see that the water hadn't dried up at all, only sometimes frozen over in places.

With a long sigh Fuji pushed himself upwards into a standing position, his back ached like mad and the new wounds from where the tennis racket frame had been wacked against his back, the pain almost made him collapse again. As he made his way over to Eiji he thought about the training they were forced to do. It had started off with just the ball throwing machines, all seven of them. If you missed a ball the man wacked you with the tennis racket frame, Fuji swore he worked out, the power behind it felt like taking one of Kawamura's burning balls or Momo's dunk smash when he was putting at least 80% of his power.

"Nya Fuji?" came a questioning look, "Fuji, are you alright?" Fuji jumped almost a mile into the air, but nodded instead. He must have been in his own little world there.

"Just thinking about the others Eiji" he said sitting down besides the tap.

"Nya Fujiko! Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be okay, they've got Oishi and Oishi won't let them get into trouble. I'm sure Yuuta is worried about you as well. Nya I'll wash your back first Fujiko!" To which Eiji turned the tap on gently, too fast and the water would just explode everywhere, damping the piece of cloth. Fuji turned his back to Eiji and looked away, he had tried not thinking about anyone else, especially Yuuta, it made everything so painfully aware. Fuji resolved to have a long talk with his brother when he got back, even if Yuuta didn't want to. Gah how he missed his brother and all the rest of the team.

Aware of the fact that he was in a place he didn't know, that he didn't know if these people knew where the rest of the Seigaku regulars were, or where Eiji and he lived, if their families were alright, where they looking for them or did they think they were still in the camp? Fuji thought back to the new training that they had been introduced to two days ago, or was it three? It could have been years, time felt like it had no place here. They had pitched Eiji and Fuji against each other on the court, and Eiji had been the one to find out what happened if they lost a point, single solid whack that Fuji was surprised the birds in the trees surrounding the place hadn't flapped their wings and left. In fact, when Eiji lost the first game they had only cawed in excitement, almost mocking them. Fuji couldn't watch as they kicked him and used that horrible tennis racket, which was covered in their dried and fresh blood, to beat him over his back. Each pounding against Eiji's back Fuji heard echoing through out his mind. After that Fuji tried to loose and did successfully for 3 games to protect Eiji from the beatings until they spotted what he was doing and waved the gun dangerously towards Eiji. They had entered what seemed the world's longest tie-break under the midday sun. It had only been stopped by the men getting worn out and they had been shoved back into the small basement again. They had been pulled out again after what seemed a short while, and were forced to play against the machines again until the sun had long since set and the moon had risen in the night sky.

That was what lead to them being chucked down the stairs from the basement door; Fuji's eyes were glazed over as he tried to think of anything but the shocks of pain from his body in general. Eiji still didn't understand why they had ripped their shirts up but Fuji had stood as soon as their first 'training lesson' had started. Clothes would muffle the amount of impact that could be done, even the finest of silk.

"Fujiko? I'm done! You've got to do me now!" Came the happy voice behind, Fuji tried to give a weak smile but failed as he turned around and looked at the back of his best friend. Blood seeped from a few of the wounds but he could see places where Eiji had been hit hard enough to be given scars. Wetting the cloth Fuji gently started to dab the wounds with the cold water, trying not to hurt Eiji even more but as soon as Fuji had placed the cloth down first time he felt the body beneath it tense up. It carried on that way for a small while until Eiji spoke up, "nya! Fujiko? Everything will be alright! The police will come charging through that door and take us home and then we will get to see everyone and everything will be alright! Oishi will make a fuss over us and make sure we are looked after really well and then everything will be fine. Right Fujiko?" Eiji asked not looking behind him at the tensai. Fuji tilted his head and a shadow of his previous smile came back onto his face, so much innocence in the boy in front of him.

"Right Eiji" Fuji said trying to agree with every being of his body but his heart still remained dark. 'Come on everybody, come and at least get Eiji out of here, help me keep my promise' was the deepest thought on Fuji's mind as he cleaned the scarred back of Seigaku's acrobatic tennis player, hatred flowing for the once upon a time Higa coach and that man whom called himself Coach Smith.

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**I think I may change the plot to what my orginal plan was ... in fact I probably will ... gah ... I'm making the story longer again! AND YAY NEW REVIEWERS AND A RETURN OF AN OLD ONE! Oh I played tennis today! In the snow! IT WAS FUN!**

**eijikikumarufan01: Thank you, I feel honoured by your comment. I do try and update every night, which sometimes results in me staying up until 5am to finish.**  
**Melodious Flurry: Erm ... I think this question will have answered your worry over whether Eiji and Fuji will be alright ...**  
**EcstaticPetensh: Nya! (Yes I am pinching Eiji's nya) It's fine! I also feel quite bad for Yuuta, which is probably why he got a bigger mention than most in this chapter. **


	8. Chapter 8

A little cabin deep into the forest, full of twittering birds that flew seemingly and either was racing each other and just having a general good old natter. It was a quiet forest, far from civilization, a perfect retreat for who ever lived in that cabin down there Yuuta mused. Not that he remembered how he got to this position or where this place was. Maybe there were people down there in the cabin that could tell him, he sincerely hoped so because this place just gave him the chills.

It was a small distance to the cabin and as he made his way to it he could see a 4x4 family car sort of thing. At least that was a positive sign, although the road up to the cabin seemed to be some kind of dirt trap and not paved. The people who lived here must live very secluded lives Yuuta gathered. The cabin got larger as he got up to it and it wasn't as little as he first thought it was, wooden it stretched out to the left and around next to a big cliff. Whoever lived here had the money to be able to contract people to make it; it was a beautiful wooden cabin.

Yuuta walked up to the door, feeling now slightly overwhelmed and even more confused. The aura that this place was giving off was overwhelming, dark and tainted, the air around it was cold and harsh, even with the sun high in the sky and shining down brightly, plus there was no wind. Yuuta gave a long sigh; he had spent far too long around his sister it seemed. But there was no turning back now and even if he did he was probably bound to get lost again. As he came to the front entrance to the cabin he heard the familiar sound of balls being whacked about, the solid sound of the tennis racket reaching to get that ball. Deciding that he was going to be better seen and heard if he followed that sound than if he knocked on the door Yuuta took a step back and around the side of the cabin.

As he neared he saw the ends of a badly maintained tennis court, there were gaps in the ground were people could trip over and the mesh fencing that normally surrounded tennis courts had one or two large holes in it along the left. Frowning Yuuta slowed his walking speed slightly, if the people here had the money to make a beautiful log cabin then why was the tennis courts in such a bad state? That sense of warning was back again, the air was filled with the smell of blood. As he stepped into full view of the court, he almost lost his balance and ended up staggering back a few steps.

One side of the courts were several ball machines that were throwing tennis balls at the same time at a high pitch pace, a man standing next to them, a tennis racket in his hand, Yuuta couldn't see his face clearly. However this was not the reason why Yuuta was as shocked as he was. Standing there on the opposite side of the net was his brother, wearing only shorts and a pair of trainers that would have been thrown out weeks ago if found in his house or anyone's house for that matter. They were scruffed badly and had large holes in them that showed scratches along the side of Fuji's foot, one of them looked freshly done.

Yuuta watched unable to move, unable to speak as Fuji reached for every ball with a scuffed tennis racket that came out of the machines, moving swiftly, stumbling only slightly. Sweat was pouring off Fuji's face and there was almost this antagonising painful look across his face. Yuuta watched capatived by the movements whilst inside telling himself to move or at least … "Aniki!" Yuuta called out, his mouth finally moving. Fuji halted seemingly only for a few seconds and Yuuta broke into a smile but it was broken by the sound of a tennis ball hitting the ground and rolling out.

Yuuta watched as Fuji turned towards him but then realised it was only towards where the ball that had rolled out had gone. Yuuta frowned as he saw a look of terror pass swiftly across his brother's face, thinking how wrong it was. Normally Fuji would be smiling and just shrug and carry on with his eyes closed. This Fuji wasn't smiling, his eyes were open and all he was doing was staring at that one ball. Yuuta looked suddenly as he saw movement from the man that had been standing next to the machines came over to stand behind Fuji. Yuuta's eyes were filled with terror as he watched the tennis racket being raised and swiftly moved down onto Fuji's back. "Shusuke!" he cried out as his brother's back arched and Fuji fell to the ground on one knee, with what Yuuta could only describe as a cry of pain. It was then when Yuuta saw the scattered wounds and marks across Fuji's back, so many … so so many. There were large bruises that looked like they were very sore. For several moments Yuuta thought he was going to throw up; the sight was sickening.

"This sun is way too hot!" Came a loud complaining voice from the side of the tennis courts. Yuuta turned to look at the man whom had spoken and frowned, why was he complaining it was too hot when he was sitting with a huge hat that shaded most of him! "Let's take a break for a while" said the man, whose face Yuuta couldn't see for some reason, before he grabbed at something beside him. Yuuta looked in horror when he saw what was in the man's left hand. "Kikumaru" he whispered, as the acrobatic tennis player was lifted by his red hair. For a moment he was angry that Eiji hadn't done anything to protect his brother until he saw what was in the man's left hand and the state of Eiji's back. The anger was then transferred on to the man, how did he get a gun like that and why were the men intent on seemingly trying to destroy Kikumaru and Fuji backs?

"Aniki!" Yuuta cried out as he watched the man whom had beaten his brother with the tennis racket lift Fuji the same way the man with the gun had, by Fuji's hair. In that moment Yuuta couldn't stand it, the gun forgotten about, he clambered onto the court through one of the large holes in the mesh fencing and raced towards the man, planning to push him away from Fuji. In a brief moment of confusion Yuuta found himself on the floor of the tennis court, the man he was planning to push away was starting to walk away pushing Fuji with the tennis racket into the back of the cabin. Yuuta growled and stood up and ran at the man again, but all that happened was he went through the man. 'What am I? I can't be a ghost? What the heck is this?' Yuuta thought to himself as he followed the man into the cabin.

Distracted by his own thoughts he didn't quite manage to follow Fuji and Kikumaru when they were pushed in through a door space. The door was firmly locked and then a bookcase slid in front of it presumably so if a stranger came it wouldn't be seen and it would muffle all noises. Yuuta clenched his fists, feeling ready to punch anyone and everyone that was in the room. Not that would have done much, he couldn't even touch them, they didn't even realise he was there, standing before them. Yuuta tried looking at the men's faces again but all he could see was a black mass where their faces should have been. What on earth was this?

A loud bang of a door was sounded through out the cabin, and the three men in the kitchen (there had been another one inside) jumped violently. The man who had been holding the gun sighed and walked out, not saying a word. Yuuta followed curiously wondering why the man had sighed. He watched as the man stepped into a room and the door closed. Placing his right ear against the door and a hand on the wooden surface to steady himself he listened closely.

"How quickly have they come along?" came a new unknown voice.

"Quickly enough that you could get a new batch in," said the man whom had the gun.

"You serious? It's only been three or so weeks. Are they really …" the unknown voice said again.

"Give them another week or so and you'll have to take them on then. You know our methods only go so far."

"Hmmm … fine."

"Where will you take them? Can't leave them here, not if we get a new batch in, got to clear the space and we only get a limited amount. Want to see how things work with a bigger group."

"Well I can't go back home but I can't stay round here. Might take them there. I'll give you a call when ready."

"Same plan?"

"Never changed my dear friend …"

"you know I like …"

Yuuta never heard the rest as the world around was plummeted into darkness, someone was calling his name, in the distance … what was, there was pressure on his left shoulder like someone was trying to wake him … Slowly Yuuta opened his eyes, there was someone standing over him "aniki?" came a whisper from his lips. Maybe everything had been a dream; maybe he was still at home before this U-17 tournament …

"Sorry" came the almost sad reply, the pressure disappearing off his shoulder, "he's still missing." Yuuta groaned as his eyes snapped open and Oishi was standing there with the bedside light on. It had been decided by the rest of the group that Oishi and Yuuta would benefit the most from supporting each other seeing as they were the ones who were being affected the most from the two Seigaku regulars' disappearance inside the camp. Yuuta sat up slowly before blinking in surprise when there was a glass of water being offered to him.

"You looked like you were having a nightmare." Oishi explained, sitting down on Yuuta's bed. Yuuta took the glass with a shaky hand and looked at the digital clock next to his bed; it read 4am in the morning. They were being given longer lie-ins here at the main camp. Police came everyday, telling the senseis at the camp that it was probably best to keep them there and do a check three times a day to make sure everyone was okay. They were still considering the possibility that someone from the camp might have harmed Fuji and Kikumaru. They had even called Tezuka back from Germany quite early on and it had been almost a sad reunion between the Seigaku regulars. It meant Yuuta had to stay even though his family wanted him back desperately. No one blamed them really.

"Has it really been three weeks?" Yuuta whispered.

"Yeah, there about," Oishi replied softly, still looking at Yuuta whom finished the water and placed it down on the bedside cabinet on his left. "Want to talk about the nightmare?" It was just like Oishi to ask him that, 'the mother hen of the regulars' Yuuta remembered Fuji saying once over the phone. Yuuta wished his sister was here, she probably would understand the dream better, her speciality. Yuuta was tempted to say no to Oishi's offer but he wanted to get it off his chest.

"Don't think me as mad." Yuuta whispered looking at Oishi, whom shook his head. "I thought I saw Aniki and Kikumaru" and Yuuta started to rattle off his dream to Oishi. When finished Oishi frowned and looked away.

"I hope we find them before it's too late. Everyone needs them in a way" Oishi said with a quiet whisper that Yuuta had problems hearing. "Lets get some sleep" the mother hen said before wandering over to his side of the room with the bed nearest the window. As Oishi crawled underneath the covers Yuuta smiled sadly.

"Thanks Oishi" he whispered before turning out the light and turning over under the bed sheets but neither boy slept for the rest of the night until the morning bell went at 8am. 

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**Phew long chapter now done ... longest yet, wide awake because I woke up at 6pm XP. Didn't help the internet froze first time and then I clicked on favourite button the second. But finally done! Yeah Yuuta gets a big mention in this chapter, he was kind of the only person that could do this chapter ... XD**

**Demoncat13: O_O. Erm slight problem there. If you kill my evil coaches off then I can't carry on the story and you'll be stuck not knowing what happens ... **  
**eijikikumarufan01: I have to agree with you there. Eiji isn't a weak character, he's just innocent in many ways and he is smart but not as smart as other characters in the series, doesn't make him stupid. As for Fuji, he is a loyal friend and probably would do the same for everyone in the Seigaku regulars, possibly beyond, even if he is a evil tensai. Its just how I see them protrayed in the anime and manga series, Eiji as innocent (which is why he probably gets away with all that he does) and Fuji as a loyal friend. As for the updates, you may find I miss one day out this week due to some work I have to do ... then again it depends on how fast I can get it done. If I can get it done in the day then the updates will still come. **

**REVIEWS PLEASE! I like happy reviews! Even those saying that they want to kill the evil coaches!**


	9. Chapter 9

That voice sounded so distant, so far away, unreachable and untouchable. Yet it was so familiar, it had been full of worry, anger, sadness, grief and fear. Ever since he had heard it, his sleeping patterns had changed rapidly, it haunted him everywhere. He just couldn't sleep knowing that if he did he would hear that voice again, saying that one single thing over and over again. It had shown his in his tennis, he had missed a couple more balls than usual with this harsh training. He wondered if Eiji had noticed at all. Knowing the redhead the answer was probably more than likely.

Fuji closed his eyes just slightly; trying to unravel the mystery of the mysterious voice that had distracted him what seemed not too long ago but then again could have been years ago. Before he had managed to stop himself he had slunk back into a dream of that memory, playing against those machines, trying to catch all the balls with a tennis racket he had been forced to get used to. A whisper then floated him by, a voice he thought he knew but he couldn't quite place his finger on it, and then it was gone like it never was there. He couldn't even remember what the word had been now but he knew it was something important, something precious to him. Then the pain from behind of the tennis racket frame reaching and hitting …

Fuji's eyes snapped open and he lurched forwards, gasping for air, his body protesting at the sudden movements. Grasping his right arm around his stomach and using the left to launch himself upwards, he walked slowly over to the tap in the corner. It seemed so far away, it just kept on seemingly getting further and further away from him. After what seemed a life time he grasped it and twisted it on slowly, using all the strength he had. A slow trickle of water came out of the tap and Fuji grabbed at it, drinking it, just feeling it in his hands and looking at it in wonder. It made everything seem so easy. It was only then did he realise how cold it had got in the room and he dropped the cup hold of water he had made with his hands. What surprised him most was when a right hand grabbed the tap and turned it off quickly and easily. He followed the gaze back up to the person he had forgotten was in the same room as he was. "Sorry Eiji" Fuji whispered looking at his hands, the water had felt colder than usual and the room was particularly chilly.

Eiji watched with a sad fond smile as he knelt down besides Fuji placing his left hand upon his best friend's shoulder and another across the brow of Fuji's forehead. He quickly withdrew it as he felt the heat radiating from the tensai's body. "Fuji" he whispered grabbing both hands in his own, "Fuji look at me" he said, trying to capture the wandering eyes of his best friend. "Darn it Fuji look at me" he said in a warning tone. Eiji knew that his voice wasn't the best at giving orders but he needed to find out what was wrong with Fuji. His best friend felt like he was burning up.

Eiji noticed with a worried glance the dull look from lack of sleep and stress in Fuji's eyes when he did finally look up at Eiji. From Eiji's lack of medical knowledge, (sometimes Oishi's mother hen moments did come in useful) he could see clearly that Fuji at least had a fever. "Fuji" he whispered, "drink some water" Eiji re-cupped Fuji's hands in his own left one and moved them over to the underneath the tap. Turning the tap so a gentle amount came out Eiji let it pour into Fuji's hands, making sure the tensai didn't manage to spill any by his flinching of cold water hitting hot skin.

The Eiji before the kidnapping and 'training' would have seen this as a long and torturous task, even though he still would have done it. The Eiji now sighed; before the kidnapping and 'training' he would have never needed to have to do this to Fuji, the tensai probably would have done it anyway, under Oishi mothering him at the same time.

Eiji watched closely as Fuji drank the water, flinchingly at times but it was to be expected. Eiji counted the amount of times he made Fuji refill his hands before the tensai asked to stop in a weak almost painful voice. 7 times, it seemed far too little to Eiji but he made no comment. He turned the tap off quickly and placed his arm around Fuji, lifting him up gently taking him to the other side of the room, away from where the damp spots where and thus the coldest part. The tensai had his eyes firmly closed in order to control himself.

Fuji felt himself being lowered to the ground, everything was so cold! The normal pleasure of water which he had come to love through out his captivity had chilled him to the bone. Eiji's hands which had been covered in water was freezing to his body. He couldn't even think straight at the moment, thoughts pounding around his head at full throttle, all he knew was that it was cold, Eiji was next to him and they were in a locked room of some kind. As he felt his head gently lowered to the ground, presumably by Eiji holding it, the pain overrode everything. He let out a half –muffled, half-strangled scream. He never anything that hurt as bad as this.

Almost as soon as he had let out the scream, the pain started to ebb away. When it felt like he could open his eyes again Fuji looked up, realising that Eiji was holding him in a tilted position, with Fuji's head resting on Eiji's left arm and Eiji's right arm holding Fuji in place tightly, knees bent so he could give support to the position. Eiji gave him a long sad smile.

"Rest Fuji. Let me protect you this time" said the acrobatic tennis player and for the first time, in what felt a long time, Fuji gave way to the burdens, pain and responsibilities that he had weighed upon himself. Within the comfortable position that Eiji had made for Fuji and Eiji's body warmth, tears started to roll down Fuji's right cheek as he fell asleep. 'Now I remember … the voice said aniki … was it …' was the last conscious thought of Fuji before a refreshing sleep took him.

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**Sorry for this chapter. I've been awake for 29 hours and 30 mins by now, so please forgive me. It won't be the best of chapters. Please forgive me. Gomen.  
O_O! Watching Tenimyu (POT musical) and I just found a scene that really scares me ... it's really freaky ... me don't like!**

**eijikikumarufan01: meh, I've got a half split view. I watched the anime first and then read the manga, so this story is a kind of combination of both**  
**demoncat13: You can still kill them after the story is done ... I won't stop you ...**


	10. Chapter 10

**This chapter has been redone!**

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It had been the first television appeal. A month after the two boys had disappeared the Fuji and Kikumaru family finally was allowed to come on air and appeal to whoever had taken Shusuke and Eiji to bring them back to them. There had been no ransom call; no mention of any letters, nothing; it was unlike a normal kidnapping. What ever they wanted, they would give just as long as they got their children back unharmed. It had become a big story in all the newspapers, everyone was seemingly talking about it and everyone wanted to know what this U-17 tournament camp was, the journalists more wanted to know where it was. The police had decided it would be risky letting the middle school and high school students back out just yet encase they were hounded by the press, so they were keeping everyone back until it had died down or at least the boys had been returned.

That was fine with Yuuta, he didn't think he could bear to see the outside world for a while, not without knowing that the boy he was always compared to wouldn't be there and people would be asking him more. Although he would never admit it out loud, Yuuta did want to be known as Fuji's Shusuke little brother in some ways, however he may act. He hadn't told anyone about his dream yet, having no way to contact with his sister and if told anyone else they would think him mad, the Rudolph regulars would probably tell him to shut and stop moping.

Yuuta was distracted from his thoughts when he heard his name being called from a small distance. He looked up from the ground where he had been staring at, crossed armed for quite a while it seemed, he had arrived there after the morning bell and the sun was already setting. Blinking Yuuta shook his head, 'way to get carried in your own thoughts' he thought to himself before sighing and standing as he watched the small group come. The ironic thing was it wasn't anyone from Rudolph, just the Seigaku regulars.

Oishi was in front and seemingly had been the one calling him, "Yuuta," Yuuta had got used to them calling him his first name. It made the pain of this kidnapping lessen for a while but he had made a mental note to ask them to stop when he got his brother back; he was not giving Fuji any ideas. Oishi placed a hand on Yuuta's shoulder and squeezed it gently, "you've been missing for most of the day, and it kind of scared me when I couldn't find you."

"How did you find me then?"

"Inui had told me he had seen you coming to this forest area. I guess you wanted to avoid the television appeal, none of us went." Oishi replied nodding back to the rest of the Seigaku team. Tezuka was standing there with arms crossed, Inu was making notes about the captain's arms was slightly tighter than it had been before the kidnapping, although no one knew that. Kawamura and Echizen had walked a little distance from the group, not saying anything but just looking at the forest. Momo and Kaidoh were standing back to back, so they wouldn't have to acknowledge each other but notably their fights had actually increased in number and more about trivial things that didn't matter, since learning the knowledge of Fuji's and Eiji's kidnapping, although that hadn't stopped them fighting this morning. It seemed everyone had been affected by the kidnapping, if only slightly in some cases. "You've seemed distracted for a few days Yuuta; ever since you woke up that night." Yuuta quickly took it as a referral to that night he had what he hoped was a nightmare and not a vision.

"This was where they were last seen going to wasn't it?" Tezuka said looking over Yuuta's left shoulder, when he didn't continue Inui looked up from his notebook "but the police found only Fuji's camera smashed to bits. They presumed by something solid and not a simple chuck to the ground, it was also something with a thinner edge than a hammer and not as sharp as an axe. They say the probability of it being a tennis racket was 89 per cent," The data expert tennis player carried on. Oishi sighed and looked back at Yuuta, who wasn't looking at all impressed with Inui's data memorizing or data collecting skills.

"But it doesn't mean that someone on the camp did it? I mean none of us are suspects; there was no way we could have done it, especially Oishi or Fuji's brother." Momo perked up from where he had been standing. Silently with a cold glare Yuuta walked away from the group, not wanting to be part of any conversation which involved the kidnapping of his brother, another reason why he wasn't going home or back to Rudolph. He could imagine the awkward silences, uncomfortable glances or the patronizing questions. He could understand what Momo was trying to do but at the moment it just went over his head. Behind he could hear yet another argument taking place between the two rivals in the Seigaku group.

"Baka! You really know how to put your foot into things don't you?" Kaidoh hissed at Momo, whom seemed offended at that. The rest of the group had started to walk back towards the main complex away from the group with the expectation of Oishi who currently had his eyes closed.

"What do you mean by that viper?" Momo said back, "I was trying to help unlike you."

"Fshuuuu, but you don't know when to keep your mouth shut do you?" Kaidoh hissed back and nodded at the now retreating back of Oishi who was joining the other group. "Baka" was the last thing Kaidoh said before he turned and joined the rest of the group, walking behind just slightly.

"Damn it viper" Momoshiro muttered to himself before turning in the opposite direction, muttering curses about one particular snake of the regulars.

"I was only trying to help" Momo sighed, 'but the viper was right. I did just go and stick my foot in it. I was only trying to help out! I really do not want to go back there tonight. Why did I have to be stuck with Viper as a roommate?' he thought as he scuffed his trainers along the ground. The birds were all cheerful chirping along with each other as Momo wandered deeper into the forest, not caring where he was going. His left hand clenched tightly and he ran his hand through his hair, stopping besides a tree. He looked at the ground breathing hard. 'Why did everything have to be so …' his thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone which he had brought with him and was currently vibrating in his right pocket. He waited to see if the caller would get the hint after he refused to answer but all that seemed to happen was the phone grew louder. With a long sigh he brought it out of his pocket and looked at the caller id. 'unknown' it said on the small screen in front of the flip phone. Waiting only a couple more seconds Momo flipped it and placed it against his ear. "Yo"

"Fshuuuu, Bouchou wants you back at the main complex." There was a long pause on the other side. "You better not stick your foot into it again ba … "

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!" Momo almost screamed down the phone before throwing against a nearby tree, all the bird nearby scattering. His headache had just increased majorly.

"I know I'm an idiot" he said softly to himself, sliding down the tree, head resting against his clenched hands. He stayed that way for a few minutes before looking over at his right, his eyes resting on the phone which was now on the ground. The top half was half broken off, hanging together by a few wires. "Damn it" he whispered, standing and walking over to it. Sighing he as he picked it up, the top half finally did fall off. "Too much power" he said to himself standing with it musing over it with both bits in different hands. 'Now I'll have to buy a new phone' he said as he started to turn, only to have quickly duck and roll to avoid a slice of a tennis racket coming towards his head!

Momo rolled and skidded away on one knee away from the attacker. He was glad he had turned when he did otherwise he would have never seen the tennis racket, he never heard the person. Taking a quick glance at his attacker Momo frowned, the man had a black mask on and he acted in a way that was much older than a middle school or a high school student. "Who are you?" he asked as a twig snapping alerted him of someone on his right and he pushed himself off the ground with his hands before jumping to avoid that one, rolling as soon as he hit the ground. The phone was now forgotten about at the edge of the small clearing. "There are two of them?" he whispered to himself as he stared at the new guy before something butted into the back of his head, something solid and heavy. The blackness took him as he heard the words. "No, there are three of us."

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**I redid this chapter. I'm sorry for posting a most terrible chapter yesterday. I hope this is much better. It should be a lot lot better. I don't even know why I published the last attempt, I knew it was terrible.**  
**I'll try and get another chapter up tonight, to make up for the fact that yesterdays was so bad I deleted it. Oh and I have now mario-ifed my laptop in mario stickers, maybe it will help maybe not, meh seems to be working.**

**demoncat13: I now have to agree with you. I am disliking the bad guys and I am using them, well actually they are using me. Make sure you use lots of torture methods and don't give them an easy death ...**  
**BF: Yep Fuji is more or less broken. I love the 'when not if' part. Who says I am allowed to let them go?**  
**eijikikumarufan01: hmm, I would rather not like to have to stay up 30 hours to produce a good chapter. Tends to make me cranky. As for them being fed, erm I presume yes because they wouldn't have been able to survive a month without food, however how much they are getting I have no idea and I dare not ask the coaches cause they are currently scaring me. As for breakig them by nearly killing them, the whole purpose of that is, if you can break somebody into tiny little pieces you can be the one to put back together whichever way you like. At least I think thats the reasoning. Another point I wanted to say but keep forgetting is your detail point. For me if someone says 'they poked a gun into his leg', I want to know which leg, I want to be able to see what people are writing. I want to be in the story, thats my part on detail. **

**Reviews please for hopefully a better chapter! Oh and find out what happens to momo in the next chapter ...**


	11. Chapter 11

"Momo. Momo. Momoshiro!" It seemed like the voice came from a distance. "Hey Momo, wake up" was the hiss of the voice, like it was trying not to do something. Groaning Momo placed a hand upon the back of his head, touching a hard floor as he did it. Wincing Momo pushed himself up with his spare right hand, "Nya! Momo! Be careful!" came the anxious voice and he felt a hand behind his back supporting him. Momo smiled, well apart from having what felt like a splitting headache, it was a nice dream. Eiji was in it, talking to him … Momo's eyes snapped open suddenly and he was staring at the face of the red head, who had disappeared for about a month now. "Eiji-sempai?" he said whisperingly.

"Hoi?" Eiji tilted his head curiously.

"This isn't a dream is it?" he asked, he couldn't believe that the acrobatic tennis player was here, he still felt like he was in the dream. Eiji just raised an eyebrow and with the hand that wasn't supporting his back placed the cold wet cloth on Momo's forehead. Momo jumped violently at the touch of the cold water and scurried back, finally jolting out of dream state into reality. Eiji stood up from his knelt position, with what could only be described as a quirky smile.

"That answer your question Momo?" he said before walking over towards where a tap was. Momo followed with his eyes curiously, viewing his sempai in dim light of a fading light blub.

There were numerous wounds, both short and long, down Eiji's back. Some looked freshly done even recently he would say, others scabbing over but there were some that were turning pink around the edges indicating scars would soon occur but there was one that drew Momo's attention was the longest one that ran from the edge of each shoulder blade across his back, almost like something had been dragged across it painfully. He then only just realised that he could see the scars because Eiji had no polo shirt on. Taking a deep breath in he was about to ask when he heard a murmur from the other side of the room opposite from the tap, where Eiji was currently knelt holding a cloth underneath a trickle of water. Momo turned towards the noise and his opened wide with what he saw.

"Fuji-sempai?" he asked in a shocked voice, leaning slightly towards him. The boy was lain out on the floor tossing and turning only slightly, breathing hard, eyes open. Eiji walked into his peripheral vision and across to where Fuji lay, kneeling besides him on one knee and placed a cloth across his forehead with his right hand, holding it there as Fuji turned to try and shake it off, more from shock.

"Shush Fuji. You need to rest; you've still got a fever." Eiji said in an almost motherly tone.

"Yuuta?" came a weak whisper, the turning stopped and Fuji's left hand grabbed at Eiji's arm, although Momo could even see the grip was weak.

"He's safe Fuji, he's not here. I promise you. He's safe" Eiji repeated his right hand still remaining to place pressure on the cloth so Fuji couldn't shake it. "Rest, Yuuta is safe." He whispered again as Fuji's grip slackened on Eiji's arm and gently fell to the floor. The tensai's eyes were now closed again and the breathing evened out.

Eiji stayed in his position for a little while longer before rising, this time without the cloth. He stared straight ahead at the wall as Momo inched closer to the two boys. "He thinks they have somehow managed to catch Yuuta; so every time he wakes up, he's scared that Yuuta's going to be there with us." Eiji looked at Momo now whom had managed to get in a position sitting by Fuji's head before turning and grabbing another piece of cloth from the pile near Momo. "He's had the fever for a while, a couple of days, maybe a week or so; it feels like its going down finally. I've managed to keep them from taking him for training."  
"Training?" Momo asked looking over at the once cheerful acrobatic who had greeted him when he woke up as the old Eiji and now after dealing with Fuji had been weighed down and aged several decades. "What training Eiji-sempai?"

"Nya!" Eiji said rubbing the back of his head with right hand still not looking at Momo, "you don't want to know but if I was you I would hide that shirt quickly. I don't know why you've still got it but they removed Fuji's and mine before we had even woken up. It's what these cloths are. Our old shirts which they ripped to shreds before giving back to us."

"Eiji-sempai, what training are you talking about?" Eiji took a long breath turning back to Momo.

"Tennis training of course." He said trying to give a smile which Momo didn't believe.

"Is that the training that gave you those scars? The reason why you and Fuji look so thin? The reason why Fuji has a fever? The reason …"

"Yes!" Eiji said shutting his eyes and throwing his hands up in the air, "yes the reason why we have these scars, yes the reason why we look so thin, yes the reason why Fuji has a fever, yes the reason why he is taking so long and yes the reason why Fuji has broken under the pressure under the theory that they think they have his brother somewhere and are harming him." The red head ranted off before collapsing on his knees, clenched hands covering his face.

Momo scooted over in alarm to Eiji's left side, grabbing Eiji's shoulders, not too tightly but even to give what seemed to be a gentle presence because Eiji started to calm just slightly. In the awkward situation he didn't know what to say, but he needed not have thought of speaking anyway as Eiji carried on. "I was scared when they chucked you down the stairs, at first I thought it might have been Yuuta and that would shatter Fuji. Then I saw it was you but you weren't moving, I thought you were dead Momo! I froze! I didn't know what to do! You took a long to start moving but I was so relieved when you did."

Eiji turned his face into Momo's right shoulder seeking comfort from another human being with all the pressure he had been facing over the days. Having to convince them to let Fuji rest, having to convince them to let Fuji have more food than the watery, barely cooked rice they got every three days (he didn't manage in that task of getting better food but Fuji got food more often now) having to take on training on his own all day. At least with Fuji there they had alternated and rested in between. The pressure of having to keep waking up to check on Fuji in the small hours of what he presumed was the morning, telling him time and time again Yuuta was safe.

"Momo" Eiji said looking up, after what felt like a good decent half an hour being held in one place; well it felt that way to Momo.

"Yes Eiji-sempai?" he replied frowning.

"When tomorrow comes, don't try and hit the balls with all your power. Save all your energy for trying to hit all the balls, doesn't matter if they are going out, try and hit them all back over the net. I'm sorry I can't give you anymore advice than that, other than, don't answer back to them Momo. Please don't answer back to them." Eiji said with a desperate plea in his words. Momo sighed and nodded his head.

"But don't worry Eiji-sempai; everyone is looking for you and Fuji-sempai. It won't be long until they find this place, I'm sure of it." Momo said trying to comfort the red head. He frowned when the door slammed open and a man came in, pinked faced, looking like he was in a rush. He pointed to Fuji

"Can he walk tomorrow?" he asked simply and clearly even though he was breathing hard. Eiji looked back at Fuji and nodded his head slowly. The man disappeared back through the door, shutting it behind him.

"What was that all about?" Momo asked Eiji looking at him curiously, whom shook his head, just as confused as Momo was. Eiji stood and started to make his way next to Fuji, where he clearly meant to go to sleep tonight.

"I don't know. They've never acted that way before." Momo frowned before the voice clicked in his head.

"Hey I think that was the guy that clobbered me over the head."

"Hoi, and you've got the lump to prove it. There are several men moving around, some I know about and haven't met yet and really don't want to met." Eiji replied with somewhat of that cheerful happy tone coming back to his voice. "Get some sleep Momo, you'll need it." Momo nodded and moved over to near the cloth pile was, removing his shirt, realising how chilly it was. Eiji gave a small laugh, "keep it on tonight Momo, they won't take it whilst your sleeping. It's the only time they don't disturb us." Momo nodded his thanks to him before pulling it back on and lying down. It wasn't long before two questions came to him.

"Eiji-sempai?"

"Nya?"

"Don't you have a light switch in here? It's hard to sleep with the light on."  
"Sorry Momo, don't have that luxury." Eiji replied, Momo swore he could have heard an underlying bitterness to the words.

"Eiji-sempai? Last question."

"Go ahead Momo."

"You said there is this tennis training; does that mean they have coaches? I mean coaches that will do this sort of thing."

"There are two coaches, one known as the boss, we've barely seen him. You remember Kevin Smith from America?" Momo nodded. "He looks like him. The other coach you've met before."  
"Who?"

"You remember the coach from Higa who wanted the players to keep on hitting towards coach Ryuzaki? Then when they had lost he retired?"  
"Him? Didn't he use Spartan methods to train that team?" Momo said alarmed.  
"Coach Saotome uses worse methods now than the Spartan. " Eiji replied turning over in his position next to Fuji, whom was lying next to the wall as was the warmest place really in this cold area. When Eiji didn't give anymore information Momo didn't push but he did wonder what type of methods this guy had used as he fell into the blissful darkness of sleep.

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**As promised, another chapter tonight to make up for last night's bad chapter. Neh, this story was only meant to be 10,000 words long! That failed ...**

**eijikikumaru01: there is a reason why they took Momo now, although I won't reveal that just yet. There got food in this chapter! I also think Fuji is broken more from the fact that he thinks he's failed from keeping Yuuta safe, I think that was the biggest factor in breaking down, and the fever rounded it off. Although Eiji isn't seemingly going to last much longer either. I don't think the coaches will give into the families pleas but for the families I think they are trying everything to get them back.**

**REVIEWS PLEASE! Nice reviews ... or nasty reviews if you want to kill/torture the coaches!**


	12. Chapter 12

Kaidoh hissed as he walked around the room, that idiot was late. The sun was well on its way to setting. He had called him over two hours ago and the baka was still yet to return. Tezuka sat upon one of the three red sofas in the room which were shaped in the way of a square horse shoe, looking out over the grounds through the windows opposite the door. Tezuka didn't not look impressed with the amount of time they were waiting for Momo, so it seemed only Echizen was brave enough to sit besides the fuming captain. Oishi was sat on the middle sofa next to Yuuta, not paying attention to anyone else but the younger Kahoi. Inu was scribbling away in his green note book on the third and final red sofa whilst Kawamura was looking out of the window with his back to the rest of the room and he was the one whom finally broke the awkward and uncomfortable silence of the room.

"Maybe … maybe we should go and have a look for him." He said softly turning around to face the rest of the group. "Its getting dark and …" Kawamura trailed off looking around at the rest. There was only a sigh of agreement from Oishi in the moments that followed. Yuuta stood from the sofa shaking his head.

"I'm going to go to bed." No one challenged him or looked down on him as he left. Momo wasn't really part of the new found friends Yuuta had, more an outsider and so no one expected him to stay and help look.

"Alright everybody let's go and don't let your guard down." Tezuka said after Yuuta had shut the door. The captain of the Seigaku regulars stood, or at least that's what everyone else still thought of him even if he had accepted the training of a professional. Kaidoh hissed again as he followed the group out, being the last one. It was more of a nervous hiss though; it was hard to believe that even the block head Momo could be this late and the lack of response after hearing the 'shut up shut up shut up' was gnawing at him.

"There is a 67 per cent chance that Momo is playing tennis on one of the courts after hanging up on you earlier." Kaidoh turned his head towards the data tennis player and along with one of his glares …

"Fshuuuu", although Inui was unaffected by it, just simply because he was more involved in writing in his notebook.

"Although there is a high chance of 31 per cent that he wandered off into the woodland area and got lost." Inui carried on looking up briefly before carrying on sticking his head inside the notebook.

"What's the last 2 per cent Inui?" Kawamura asked falling behind from Oishi, Echizen and Tezuka up front.  
"That he has either gone to dinner or gone to bed." Inui answered "and seeing as dinner isn't being served for another two hours then the likely hood of him being asleep is very low."

"Mada Mada Dane" came Echizen's voice from up in front.

Oishi looked up at Tezuka and frowned, "maybe we should go to the woodland area and have a look around there. It's the furthest away and if we don't find him by the time the sun sets then we head back. It's a less dangerous option and it would be safer for Momo." The vice-captain said looking over at Inui just to confirm that was the best option; however he got nothing because Inui was still writing away in his green notebook. Tezuka took the lead as came naturally to him, taking a turn towards the woodland area. It was a short walk of about 10 minutes from the main complex but again far enough for the students there to enjoy the beauty of nature.

Tezuka stopped in front of the tree line and looked around at the group, "we should split up into doubles, everyone has their phone on them. If you find Momoshiro you phone the rest of the group and we met back here. If you haven't found Momoshiro by an hour, we all meet back here and go and see if he is on the tennis courts. Understand?" He asked the group looking around. Only Kawamura and Oishi nodded in agreement but Tezuka knew that the others understood the instructions even if they didn't voice or show their understanding. "Right, the groups are myself and Kawamura, Oishi and Inui, Echizen and Kaidoh. Remember not to let your guards down and be here in an hour, we don't want to be looking for more lost members who wandered too far."

With those final words, the group walked through the western area which was the nearest part to the complex together before splitting off to cover the other three parts. Oishi and Inui took the northern part, which was darkened slightly by the overshadowing of the tall cliff; Oishi knew for a fact, and didn't need Inui telling him, that if you carried on following it around and out of the main campus you would get to the area where all the secret camp had to climb to get to their destination to train. It became quickly clear that the only thing noisy about this area, well as noisy as Momo was the wildlife and no one had been through this part too recently but they wanted to make sure.

Tezuka and Kawamura took the east area, which was the part nearest to the edge of the campus. Just like Oishi and Inui that the only noisy thing about this area was the wildlife however they did see that people had been through recently, this afternoon recently. Frowning Tezuka took the decision to follow the tracks, whilst Kawamura kept on calling out for Momo, hoping the boy would appear soon. It was known that Momo liked to be in touch with his naturist surroundings but this seemed more than slightly ridiculous if he was still out here. Albeit it was Tezuka following the tracks it was Kawamura who spotted a most curious thing. The boy stopped calling and frowned, which caused Tezuka to become curious and turn to the boy on his right.  
"Tezuka, didn't they say that the campus fencing was more than secure?" Kawamura asked, his right arm pointing at where they had managed to reach the campus fencing. Tezuka followed the direction he was pointing in and although it didn't register on his face, it surprised him to notice the great big gapping hole that someone had cut through in the fencing. Large enough to fit 5 men comfy in between the gap and stand without problems. The ends where too neatly cut to be animals or a car charging through. Tezuka looked at his watch. "It's been an hour Kawamura." He said simply before turning back.

By the time that Tezuka and Kawamura got back only Oishi and Inui were standing there. Oishi looked worried though, his face was going pale even in the lack of sunlight it was still so very clear.

"Did you find Momo?" Oishi asked coming over to the pair that had returned. Tezuka didn't reply and only looked away, so it was left to Kawamura to fill the worried vice captain in verbally.

"We didn't find Momo, but we did find that the fencing in one area has been cut away. It may have something to do with Fuji's and Kikumaru's disappearance. We'll need to tell security." Oishi still looked worried; Momo hadn't completely recovered from having his wrists smashed in by the power play of his opponent in the elimination rounds at the beginning of the camp. The rustling of the bushes alerted the others to Kaidoh's and Echizen's return whom had taken the south clearing. Kaidoh was holding something in his right hand tightly.

When the remaining Seigaku regulars thought their hopes couldn't be even more shattered than they already where, they were wrong. When they couldn't find Momo on the courts, nor in his and Kaidoh's room, nor in the canteen, their hopes were blown into oblivion. The hardest thing they had to do that day was tell the security about what had happened, who then phoned the police. As they all settled down to try and get some sleep of which it would prove fruitless, Kaidoh only finally placed the thing, which he had been holding for the whole time, down on the bedside cabinet on the right of his bed which was situated in between his and Momo's bed. The only reason he didn't get to sleep that night was because he kept on wishing that the broken phone in two parts would start ringing randomly and a certain baka's voice would come happily through the speakers.

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**Just going to say I have redone chapter 10! and awww only one review for this chapter? Have I managed to do something bad with my terrible old chapter 10?**

**BF: Hope I answered the question for you on Momo's wrists. As for hints, I'll give you one or two. In the next chapter things are going to start happening. One thing will come to a close but something else will start, so a closure and an opening ... can't tell you anything more than that. But yeah Eiji is pretty close to breaking now ...**

**Reviews please! I can't write the next chapter without one review because then I start to fret! PLEASE REVIEW!**


	13. Chapter 13

It had been an uncomfortable night; several times Momo had woken up because he wasn't used to the concrete floor and some of the times was when it seemed Fuji's fever was flaring up. He had watched from his position as Eiji had woken each time, whenever Fuji cried out in his sleep, rolled over onto his right knee to check Fuji's temperature. It was concerning to see the red head move each time and check the forehead of the pale tensai, or go and wet another cloth with cold water to use to cool Fuji's raging fever. Momo wondered if Eiji had even really gone to sleep. There had been one or two times during the night when Momo had started to re-close his eyes when he thought he had seen Eiji looking at him.

He didn't know what time he had been woken up that morning; only that Eiji had done it and his body didn't feel like it had enough sleep yet. But although the phrase of 'give me five more minutes' sounded very appealing, he didn't think it would work in this situation. He didn't even know what this situation was; only what he had been told by, what Momo remembered as, the once very active hyper red head acrobatic player. Now Eiji looked like … well he couldn't describe it very well. There was no more bounce or skip to his step, his back was stiff, his eyes were constantly wandering to different places, like he was looking for something that wasn't there but could pop out at any moment.

"Momo" Eiji said from his position next to Fuji, it was much like Momo had watched Eiji do all night seemingly. The sempai was currently changing the cloth on Fuji's forehead to a new fresh one.  
"Yes Eiji-sempai?" he replied from where he had been sitting in the same area where he had been sleeping.

"I would take off your shirt now and take a long drink of water. It will be cold outside but if you manage to keep your shirt you might be able to keep yourself warm when you get back." The red head stood and walked over to the tap, turning it on gently with his left hand. "You need to be careful with this tap, it leaks all the time and turn it on too much and it gushes out like mad." Eiji said before taking a long draught of water with his hands. It gave Momo enough time to remove his polo shirt and hide it underneath the piles of what was once two shirts very much like his own. He then walked over and took a long draught of water besides Eiji when the sempai was done. It was then what felt a long and painful wait for whoever to come and collect them, at least for Momo.

He was unused to seeing Fuji and Eiji in such a way. Fuji; pale, ill, beaten, broken … that word felt bitter on his tongue. He shook his head; there could be no possible way for Fuji to be broken! No possible way! But yet, in front of him, lying stretched out was indeed a broken Fuji whose cries for Yuuta were painful to hear. No matter how many times Eiji reassured Fuji that Yuuta was safe, they still carried on. Eiji was …

"Nya?" Eiji said curiously. Momo stood up suddenly in a ready-to-attack anyone stance.

"What is it Eiji-sempai?" Eiji looked at Momo and gave a short smile, waving his right hand in an attempt to get Momo to sit down.

"We are normally playing by this time." Eiji said frowning at the door. Momo was confused, how did Eiji now what time it was? There was no way to tell what time of day it was in here and no clock? The confusion was quickly picked up on. "You get used to a certain time period and when things are done" he explained.

"Is it bad that they are late?" Momo asked trying to look anywhere but Fuji whom had started to ask for Yuuta again.

"Maybe" Eiji said walking over to Fuji again and holding the tensai's hand tightly. "Yuuta's safe Fuji, he's safe I promise you …" Momo sighed, here it came again. A repetition of what happened during the night. He didn't know how Eiji coped with it but then again he didn't know how Eiji and Fuji had coped in these conditions for a month now if they had stayed in one place.

It then had all turned to chaos in one moment; the door had been almost slammed open in anger. It was then Momo had his first glance on what was once Higa's coach; Coach Saotome. The man was still as fat and as ugly as ever and it wasn't improved by the image of a gun in his left hand. In followed about 4 other men he didn't recognize, one of which held a tennis racket. Eiji looked confused by this sudden change in pace. Momo lost track after that of what was happening, the men moved swiftly. Way too swiftly … the one holding the tennis racket had stepped back as soon as he reached the bottom stair out of the way. Two of them walked over to the opposite side of the room, their purpose obvious as they picked Fuji up. Eiji became suddenly alarmed by this fact.

"No! You said you would leave Fuji alone!" He cried out, after coming out of the shock, running forwards towards the men, fear apparent on his face. He didn't get very far as the fourth man had walked towards Eiji and turning his arm around Eiji's neck, slammed the acrobatic player into the wall. Eiji cried out in a choked kind of way as Fuji was taken from the room and out of sight. The fourth man's left arm was still tight against Eiji's neck; only leaving him space to breath in short harsh breath. For some reason the man waltzed a camera out of a right hand pocket and took a picture of Eiji, the flash resonating around the room.

That was what brought Momo out of the shock of everything moving so quickly. With a growl he stepped forwards only to hear the click of something. Momo looked towards where the sound had come from and stopped mid-step. The gun was raised level at his head. Taking a step back he could see out of the corner of his eye Eiji was also looking at the gun. The man whom had Eiji around the neck re-pocketed the camera and left through the door, the same way they had taken Fuji. Eiji staggered forwards and fell on his knees with the sudden release of the pressure, taking deep breaths. The man with the tennis racket came forwards, walking towards Eiji slowly, spinning the tennis racket in his right hand before standing next to the boy. Eiji didn't look up. Momo could only watch in horror as like in a movie scene slowed down, it was brought up in the air and down with such force that Kawamura would probably be the only one able to beat and with difficultly. Momo couldn't tear his eyes away as Eiji gave a loud yelp of pain bending over even further.

"I told you what happens when you answer back to me." Came the calm voice of the monster Saotome. Momo finally looked away to his left to avoid seeing the man he would love to kill at the moment. "Come, it's time for training." Saotome said eyes narrowed. Momo turned his head back as he heard Eiji getting up slowly, with the small yelps of pain. Momo ran over to try and help him but Eiji just waved him away as he stood unsteadily.

They were escorted outside, where sun was barely shining in the sky, where Momo couldn't see Fuji anywhere so he guessed he had been taken somewhere else, but it was unclear where that place was or why. To his relief (and if he had looked at Eiji's face, the terror), Momo was picked first to play apparently against these ball machines. Given a racket he was told to stand on the court behind the net and to hit every ball that came out of the machine. Eiji was forced to sit next to Coach Saotome on the ground by the man's left side, of the course the elder man had a chair and on the table on his right he placed the gun, a constant reminder it was there. He remembered Eiji's advice from the night before and decided to take it.

The rest of the day almost past in a blur of pain and weariness, Momo was glad for what he remembered, if he had been playing with anything above about 30% of his power, he could have guessed that there would be a lot more marks on his back. It was whilst Eiji was playing against the machines (Momo could only watch in wonder how he managed to keep going and hit so many balls at the same time, although he did miss a few. He was really beginning to hate that tennis racket) when they finally stopped due to a man coming out of the wooden cabin and whispering in Saotome's ear. Momo guessed it was about 5pm. Eiji had been surprised by the sudden halt in the ball machines.

Momo was escorted back to the basement but as he was pushed down the steps, he expected to hear a further clatter of footsteps which never came. Eiji was instead, from what he could see, being pushed through the room by the gun in his back. The door slammed heavily and Momo ran up to it, fear making his heart race like mad.

"HEY!" He yelled, "Where are you taking Kikumaru? Where's Fuji? Answer me!" All the noise he got to his answer was a roar of a motor. Momo stumbled back slightly, catching himself before he fell down the stairs. What the heck was going on?

* * *

**The plot thickens! And my arm hurts from typing so much! I need sleep! I am awake at 7:20 finishing this which I did through the early hours of this morning instead of sleeping! By the way! I am wanting names ona which to call Saotome in the story! Can be things like 'monster' or 'hideous ugly being' or etc. **  
**I apologize to any people that like Saotome and Coach Smith, who is going to reappear soon. But I don't like them ... Saotome doesn't even have his own character flitter here on fanfic. Neither does Coach Smith ... so sorry if you do like them!**

**eijikikumarufan01: Well I am letting people start punishing them now by choosing what names I should call in this story. As for updates, I used to do two stories but never finished them really after I got a certain flame review, but I only updated them twice a week. I'm in uni now, more free time and I feel more passionate about Prince of Tennis (partly because Eiji and Fuji are so kawaii!), so updates everyday!**

**REVIEWS PLEASE! And names on what to call Saotome and Smith!**


	14. Chapter 14

Kaidoh was staring out of the window never saying anything, Tezuka was just as fierce as ever, the expression on his face never changing, Inui's notebook was on the table with pen resting on top of it, Echizen was drinking yet another Ponta, Kawamura was looking unsuccessful in his attempt to read a book he had bought on 'top tips to improve your sushi making skills' and Oishi was slouched on the sofa, head in hands, he hadn't moved for the last hour. It was a dismissal sight to Yuuta's eyes. The nine winners of the national tournament called the Seigaku Regulars reduced to six and it was obviously tearing everyone apart. Well, Yuuta couldn't tell with Tezuka or Echizen, they just acted normal for some reason. 5 weeks now, 5 weeks since everything started to crumble. The police where now thinking that someone was trying to pick off the Seigaku regulars one by one, or two and then one as Inui would probably point out if he wasn't so visibly disturbed.

It was grinding on Yuuta's nerves. Although he disliked some of the things about the group, he did miss the pleasant chatter they had, or the fights between Momo and Kaidoh, Kawamura running around with a racket in his hand shouting 'burning!' scaring every one and everything off in a mile circular radius. Inui blurting statements with percentages on everything, which sometimes didn't make sense but never mind, Oishi wasn't mothering everyone as much as he normally did, the vice-captain was slumped. It just didn't feel right without the noise of a fight going on in the background, an occasional 'Kikumaru-sempai!' from the youngest member as the acrobatic player would start hugging him to death, or that knowledgeable smile that came from his brother. And that was from an outsider's point of view. He dare not think what it felt like to the other members.

It had been two weeks since he had that dream and he hadn't dreamt it since. At the time he didn't know what to think about it, it scared him. The only person he had told was Oishi and he didn't know if the guy believed him or not. He didn't want to believe the dream, who would want to believe it? You saw your own brother being abused by the sport he loved … The police would think of him as mad anyway if he told them. However three nights ago, after being told about the hole in the fence, he had another dream or vision, whatever it was but in his dream he saw this fence and the hole, but something was drawing his attention to a collection of trees which stood on the ledge about what looked like a 15 minute walk away. It was then he awoke. He hadn't seen the hole in the fence, so why had he dreamed it so vividly? He had seen the smoothed back edges of the green wiring mesh. Once again when he had tried to contact his sister, he had got no reply. It seemed she had waltzed off somewhere to be alone in her own thoughts after the second week of Shusuke disappearing.

Seeing the regulars now … that was what snapped Yuuta off. The police weren't doing anything! They couldn't sit around and wait any longer, it might too long before they finally get somewhere. He stood from the sofa in the same room exactly a week before but much later on in the day. It was early morning right now. Yuuta took a deep breath in; he was going to do something that he would never have dared to do before in the presence of the powerful Seigaku regulars. "I've had enough" he announced, picking his racket up from the table for some strange reason he didn't know why, "I've had enough of the police pushing everyone around, and getting nowhere. I've had enough of watching you all crumble into pieces. I don't care if you think I'm mad but I think I know where Momo, Kikumaru and Aniki are. I'm going to find them. You can come if you want." That ended the longest amount of words Yuuta had said for a while to a large group of people. He waited to see if anyone would react; in truth he was scared of going on his own.

"It's about time" Tezuka said standing up, reaching for his racket on the rectangle coffee table. They all had their rackets there, although no one would have admitted it, they all felt the need to bring a racket a tennis ball today …

"What?" Yuuta said almost falling over the sofa because he stumbled backwards.

"You've known things for a while and been debating over them. Oishi told me about your dream. Your family is strange in some ways and you know things that we don't."  
"You mean, you've been waiting for me to do something?"  
"Che, mada mada dane. Obviously" Echizen perked up, setting his now empty Ponta can down on the table and picking his own tennis racket up, twisting it.

"You aren't the only one annoyed at the police Yuuta" Oishi said standing up smiling what could only be described as a sad smile. As he picked up his tennis racket, Kawamura and Kaidoh came over and joined the group, Inui stood up and took his own (plus notebook!) and Kawamura's racket before the boy could touch it.

"Why didn't you ask me earlier?" Yuuta asked confused looking at Tezuka whom seemed in charge of everything.

"Because if we had you would have crumbled under the pressure and been unable to perform at all, so it was either this or nothing." The captain said looking at Yuuta, whose only thoughts were at that exact moment 'his expression never changes does it?'

"I'm sorry Yuuta for doing this to you." Oishi said from besides him. Yuuta shook his head.

"No, I understand."

"Well let's go and don't let your guards down!" Tezuka said swiftly as they started their march out of the building. Yuuta was leading because he was the one with the knowledge in the group.

Yuuta was cringing slightly due to the fact he had never been under this type of pressure before. He knew that Tezuka was right; if he had been asked to do this earlier then he would have snapped under the pressure and probably wouldn't have done anything afterwards. Erasing all thoughts of that from his head, Yuuta looked up. He had to find Aniki, before anything happened to him and preferably before anything happened to Kikumaru and Momo. Although they weren't his favourite people in the world Yuuta had come to see Oishi as a friend almost, and it hurt him to see the man worrying over what he couldn't control.

They made their way through the forest. No one had noticed them leave; the police had been force to give up on the fence clue after 4 days of studying it, because it had brought 'no help to their investigation' as Yuuta remembered it being described on the TV. The kidnapping was now the biggest piece of news to hit the media, newspapers, radio stations, national TV, even a few international TV stations had apparently broadcasted it but Yuuta hadn't seen anything of that. Even Monthly Pro Tennis had published something on it, but it seemed Inoue and Shiba had refused to do that article out of respect for the team which they had monitored over the course of the nationals.

The fence still looked like the way it had done when Tezuka and Kawamura had seen it last, no one had touched it due to police investigation or monitoring on it. The security on the complex was yet unable to place some new tougher mesh over the area due to it being brought under tight control. As Yuuta stepped out onto the other side, it felt strange; he hadn't been outside the campus for 5 weeks now, and a few weeks before that was being spent at the secret camp. There was almost a safe type of feel behind the mesh wiring even though Yuuta knew that wasn't right, three people had been taken from beyond that wiring. Shaking his mind off that matter he looked around for the area he had been shown in his dream, it was like it was happening over again. There in the distance he could see the trees on the ledge and somehow he knew beyond that tree line, would be the steady clamber to the large wooden cabin resting against the cliff face. That was where he had seen Kikumaru and Shusuke being held, and presumably where Momo was as well. It wouldn't take them 15 minutes to walk there as he had estimated in his dream, it would take them 5. They were going and nothing was going to stop them.

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**Oh you lucky people. See how nice I am to you? I give you two chapters in one day! By the way I am now taking bids on who wants to kill Saotome the most ... his downfall is fast approaching ... I mean fast approaching. OH! Be looking out for the next chapter, everything will start happening in it. Like I said before something will close but another thing will happen. So yeah! BIDS ON WHO WANTS TO KILL SAOTOME! Or torture him! Don't mind! For some reason I start typing these chapters out to the music 'Requiem for a dream', don't know why ... maybe that's why Saotome and coach Smith are so evil. **

**eijikikumarufan01: Yeah I got a flame review but I admit my writing was terrible back then, even though the person was annoying in it as well. Hee hee you see everything in the next chapter ... not saying anymore than that**  
**BF: Arigatou! I changed it ... and can't say much because like I said, everything is happening soon.**  
**Melodious Flurry: OOOO! Hello! Glad you like the story!**  
**demoncat13: Wondered where you had disappeared to ... anyway this is amusing, as your sending new reviews, your about to get another chapter! hee hee! I somehow see your bid to kill/torture Saotomoe as quite high ... **

**Reviews please! If I finish my work tonight, I might start making the other chapter and give you two tomorrow or another one today ... not promising anything though.**


	15. Chapter 15

Momo stretched out to his right for the final ball of seven that had been shot out at different speeds and heights of power. His wrists ached, they had been for a while now, he couldn't tell you how many days because in all honesty he had lost count and couldn't even remember if hour ago it was yesterday or three days ago. His sense of time had become blurred in the mist of pain and angst. The night after his first day of training had been worse. He kept on expecting them to bring Eiji and Fuji back but they hadn't, only shoving a plate of barely cooked rice sometime afterwards through the hatch at the bottom of the door. Momo had tried eating it but it had been that bad that he soon had to admit defeat, and had been up some of the night being sick in a corner. He had generally avoided eating the food they pushed under after that. Even the sight had made him feel sick. His stomach had growled for the first few days, or was it the first few hours? But it had stopped in the end. Water and sleep was generally the only two saviours Momo had, the long hours, the beatings, the cold weather, the cold room … he was glad he had taken Eiji's advice about the shirt. Once when he was being escorted outside, he heard whispers from the group of men about 'didn't he come with a shirt?' It gave him slightly more warmth at night, even if it now had dried blood stains over it. If he ever managed to escape he planned to chuck it the moment he got his hands on some clean clothes.

He hoped a break would come soon because he was missing more and more balls at the front as the hours trundled on and on, being forced towards the back where it was harder to reach the slower balls whom dropped and stopped nearly just after the net. He had already missed about 6 balls and taken the punishment for it. He had started talking to himself recently at night, and had nightmares to accompany it as well. Momo hated being alone, it scared him and subdued him quite effectively. He missed everyone at the camp, even Mamushi although he would never admit that to anyone ever!

As Momo watched the ball roll back over the other side of the net, he cringed slightly as it hit the cord and only just went over. He heard the whirl of the machines again, it was hard to miss; they were so very noisy. Sighing Momo resigned himself to having to hit another 7 balls, and 'the likely hood of missing one is, like Inui-sempai would say, about…'

"57 per cent" Momo's thoughts were interrupted as he thought he heard the data tennis player speak, but that was impossible … he jerked himself back to life just in time to reach the first of the balls as it came towards him. He had to concentrate on the balls, he had to hit them … he knew what happened if he didn't. The next several lots of balls that whirled from the machine was fine, until all but one of the machines set off the balls at high powers causing Momo to have to step back to the baseline. He nearly missed the one machine that performed a slow ball, and darting forwards he slipped on the ground. The ground was slippery from the night before where the skies had opened and there had been a dreadful downpour. It had over turned a large amount of gravel from the already badly treated tennis courts, making the surface hard to work on. This is what led to Momo slipping as his right foot couldn't make solid grip with the ground. Momo's hopes were raised slightly as he managed to get his racket underneath but they were dashed again quickly as the ball hit the bottom of the cord and slid back down the net, on his side.

He heard the machines being paused for the moments, as he panted hard from his position of laying straight out on his front. He had gashes down his front from where he had fallen and skidded across the gravel. Although that was not as painful as what was about to come, that Momo knew for sure. Pushing himself up with his knees tucked underneath him and his hands on the ground, one holding the racket and the other clenched tightly into a fist, he waited. He could hear the man coming a mile off, the tennis racket bouncing in his hand.

"Wait!" Momo jumped by the voice of Coach Saotome penetrating the silence of the courts, beyond the gappy mesh fencing he could hear birds singing like nothing was happening. Momo was still looking at his hands, sweat dripping off his face. What did this monster want to do now?

"I want to do it." Came the menacing voice, "he should have been better than the other two by now but he's not, so I'm going to teach him what it means not be better in our training." Momo's breathing increased dramatically. The only form of teaching here was in the form of pain and it swiftly came. Momo's back arched as the first swing of the racket hit it dead centre, across the spine. Once, twice, three times … after a while Momo lost count of how many times the racket had hit him across the back and sometimes when it missed it hit him across the back of his legs that was showing. As for screaming in pain, he had no energy to do so. His mind was being to shut down under the pressure, red tints showing at the edge of his vision. It was like Saotome was angry for some reason, and the only person he could take it out was him. The racket just kept on coming and coming, the power only increasingly seemingly when Momo wouldn't scream. It then fell silent.

Momo only looked up when he heard footsteps from the left of him, several of them. The man whom normally stood by the machines and held the racket was backing away and actually fell backwards over the net. Momo grimaced as the man hit his back on the way down but didn't say anything. He looked over to his right and saw Saotome lying flat out on his back, the tennis racket knocked away from his hand. It was clear he was knocked out, a tennis ball was rotating wildly next to the man's head; the rotation was slowing down though.

"Mada mada dane" came a very familiar voice from his left. Momo turned his head slowly, hoping it wasn't a dream. There stood Echizen, not looking too impressed, his racket clenched in his left hand.

"Seems Echizen couldn't cope with Saotome doing that to you" Oishi said coming forwards from behind Echizen.

"Oishi-sempai, Echizen" Momo said with a dry throat, standing up with a struggle only to fall over when he had nearly managed to do so, his calf muscles in the back of his leg screaming out from the beating they had taken. Oishi rushed forwards and grabbed hold of Momo before the ruffian of the Seigaku regulars could fall flat on his face again.

"Don't over do it Momoshiro" Oishi warned, "Echizen, do you want to grab that drink from the table? I think Momo probably needs it." Momo tried unsuccessfully to push himself away, his arms would not respond to him for some reason. Oishi knelt down slowly as not to hurt Momo anymore and turned the boy around so his head was resting against Oishi's right shoulder and he could sit with support.

"Che! Oh Oishi-sempai?" Echizen said from his position at the table. "Seems they had a gun" he said picking the glass up with his left hand and the gun with his right. No way was Echizen going to leave something that could majorly hurt within touching distance if Saotome woke up ealier than expected.

"Eh! Echizen tell the others to be careful …" Oishi said in alarm, the drink forgotten about until Echizen pushed it in his hand.

"Che"

"Wait …" came the long pant as Echizen was about to turn into the house. "They only have one" Momo said as he took long sips of the water. "The others …" he then asked in meaning to ask a question but could ask half of it.

"Yes, the others are dealing with everyone else inside the house." Oishi said as with perfect timing Tezuka walked out.

"Inui is calling for an ambulance and police. Kikumaru and Fuji are nowhere to be seen." The bucho said looking over at Momo with the normal stern impression although it seemed more fierce than usual.

"They took them … somewhere else … a while ago" Momo could have kicked himself for not being able to form full sentences. It was just way too tiring.

"Momoshiro, stop talking and rest or its 100 laps around the court when you recover." Tezuka said, arms crossed tightly across his front. Momo gave a weak smile and carried on drinking the water that Oishi was holding.

It took under half an hour for the emergency services to appear on the scene. Apparently according to Inui, the dirt track was actually a registered drive way. The 5 unknown men were escorted into police cars cuffed, big lumps appearing on the side of their heads though … it looked like they had been knocked out by tennis balls. The gun was turned over and Echizen's prints taken so they could be taken off the gun. Momo was taken to the nearest hospital to be treated for his injuries and to be monitored for anything that was abnormal that they hadn't spotted. Saotome was being currently escorted into a police car shouting "I was forced to do it! I had to do it!" It took a lot to make Oishi really angry and he was getting close to snapping with the statements that Saotome was coming out with that he was innocent etc.

"Don't worry; I'll be thoroughly investigating him when we get down to the station. There were a lot of requests to do so." A woman police officer came over. Inui somehow popped out from behind Oishi like he normally did.

"Ah so you're the one with the code name demoncat13. I wondered who that was." Inui said the green note book by his side.

"Ahhh, yes. How did you find that out?" the woman asked, to which Oishi shook his head.

"Never mind Inui!" he said in a hurry to shut the data tennis player up before he rattled on. He didn't want to know how Inui knew that. "Are there anymore clues to the whereabouts of Fuji Shusuke and Kikumaru Eiji?" Oishi asked hopefully. The woman shook her head.

"Not immediately, but we will be searching this place top to bottom. I'm sure we will find something." She said before being called over by another police officer. Oishi nodded more to himself, looking across at Yuuta who stood besides Kaidoh. It seemed Yuuta felt as disappointed as Oishi did.

The idea of opening your eyes never seemed so tedious as it did now. His eyelids seemed to be so very heavy, his body weary from something. Had he been ill? He couldn't remember being ill. Finally with a push, the blue eyes flickered open before closing again. What surprised him though was that although he was in a room, he couldn't remember this being his room. For example, he didn't have a double bunk bed in his room and the window on his left should have had a cactus on it. It was also dim, there was a blind rolled down across it and sunlight was faint, like it was setting or in its morning stages.

"Nya! Your awake!" came a voice from the door on his right, a figure standing there. The door was quickly shut and the person came across. The visible feature of the boy was that he had red hair but where was his smile?

"Eiji? Where are we?" he tried to ask but his throat felt sore. Pushing himself up, he rubbed at it absently with his right hand. He blinked twice as a glass of water was pushed his way. He took it with his hand and steadily drank from it as Eiji pulled out a chair from one of the two desks in the room and sat on it. That was another thing he didn't have in his room, two desks or two chests of drawers.

Whilst drinking he tried to make sense of his surroundings. They were in a narrow rectangular room, with a door in the middle of the far wall and a window on the opposite wall. There were two chests of drawers either side of the door, then two desks and then the bunk bed. Finally when he finished with the water he placed it down on the desk and looked back at Eiji.  
"Where are we?" He asked again, this time making sure each word was pronounced clearly.

"Nya, you wouldn't remember. You've had a fever for two weeks Shusuke."  
"Shusuke?"

"Don't you remember? We lived in Japan for most of our lives, until our mother died a few months back. Then our uncle on our father's side from America decided he would take us in and look after us. You became ill with a fever a week before we were supposed to leave and so that's probably why you can't remember much. You were unconscious on the plane here to England. Uncle Smith was very kind to take us in instead of letting them take us into foster care." Eiji sounded like he was reading a script. "Shusuke Smith and Eiji Smith, born on February 26th, blood type AB, age 14, American father killed in battle when we were two years old, Japanese mother died of cancer. Only family in America, we were very lucky they wanted us."

"I'm not Shusuke Smith, I'm Shusuke Fuji." Shusuke said getting annoyed, everything coming back to him of what he could remember in captivity. "Eiji, your Eiji Kikumaru! What are you talking about Smiths? We have family in Japan!" Eiji didn't look at Shusuke as he stood.

"Shusuke, I have to go and cook lunch for uncle. Try and get some more sleep."  
"My name is Shusuke Fuji!"  
"Shusuke Fuji can never exist again!" Eiji snapped his voice close to break point, "just like Eiji Kikumaru can never exist again."  
"What?" Shusuke asked, more in disbelief and confusion.

"Get some rest Shusuke. I'll see if I can get some soup for you. The fever only broke last night." With that as his final words, the boy once known as Kikumaru Eiji pulled open the door, walked out and shut it again, leaving a confused boy behind who was once known as Fuji Shusuke.

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**WOW! Longest chapter ever! Well at least longest chapter I've ever done. Well like I said everything changed in this chapter ... I wonder how evil it would be to click completed at this stage?**  
**In terms of consideration, I would never kidnap Tezuka on his own, he would scare of the kidnappers with his stare, which would be amusing to watch but wouldn't make much of a story.**

**Oh and before I forget ... *makes duplicate copies of Saotome and gives them to reviewers who want to kill them, although is very careful when giving it to demoncat13 e.g. drop in front of her and run***

**demoncat13: There we go! Have fun! Coach Smith is still currently being used and you got into the story! I said I would do that for you**  
**eijikikumarufan01: Yeah, kinda had to kick start Yuuta into action, although with this chapter, if he was a real person I'm sure he would have throttled me by now **  
**Melodious Flurry: Well you can kill Saotome if you want or you can give him to one of the other characters in the story. **

**Reviews please! Or I might just click complete if you don't!**


	16. Chapter 16

It had been about four days since they had found and taken over the cabin. The police had made the decision to let the students go home after finding the wooden cabin, Momo and the men. However to every upside the Seigaku regulars seemed to have, there seemed constantly to be three downsides. The first came in the form of disappointing news from the investigation from the cabin, it was clear that Fuji and Kikumaru had been held captive by several pieces of paper which seemed to be tracking something about their tennis skills and progressing. However all papers, apart from one, that contained information about the current whereabouts of the two Seigaku had been burnt in the fireplace of what was presumed a study. It had seemed the fire had died before it could make the pieces of mysterious paper tracking their progress and one final other piece, which had only two words stamped across the top corner. Red and bold against the rest of the white paper it gave no clues; only saying 'transfer complete.'

The second piece of bad news came from the police station itself, where Saotome and the others were being interviewed. Oishi and Echizen had to give statements regarding what they saw on the abuse of Momo. Yuuta didn't mention his dream to the police; it would be regarded as an unreliable source. There were no questions, lucky for them, on how they managed to find the cabin and the idea that they had stumbled on it whilst on a walk had been adopted into the people in charge of the case. Momo had apparently given his statement an hour after he woke and had to have pictures taken of the damages on his body. Nothing else had been heard from the hospital after that, only that Momo was on the mend. The second piece of bad news was that Saotome had been diagnosed as being mentally ill after his lawyer had changed his appeal from 'innocent' to 'guilty under the cause of insanity'.

It seemed it was the most popular conduct with the judge and jury when the trail had happened that very morning. The police had been anxious to get it done; they could only hold people so long before having to let them go. The judgement had been agreed with that of the lawyer's but the case would be allowed to be re-opened if more evidence was found or if the other two missing boys came back. It basically meant that Saotome would not have to suffer the full punishments of what he had done, and instead of going to solitary confinement for the rest of his life, he would placed under careful examination and treated with care at a mental confinement hospital for the mentally insane. A luxury compared to solitary confinement it seemed. The other men would be in solitary confinement for a period of 7 months before serving their time in jail for another 3 years on top of that. It seemed there had also been another ringleader in the group but no one was willing to talk about him or her. Only Oishi and Echizen had gone to give supporting statements in the case. It had been decided after 3 days of being hugged to death and kissed and checked over etc. that they, the remaining Seigaku regulars, were going to see Momo in hospital, whom had yet to be discharged for some unknown reason. They were going to meet after the verdict had been decided, giving it a safe time of about 3pm in the afternoon. Only Oishi and Echizen knew the verdict, it was going to be released to the press about 4:30 in the afternoon.

The first person the pair met when arriving at the hospital was Tezuka, who was standing outside. It seemed he had placed the offer of becoming a pro on hiatus until everything was sorted out, so he was remaining with the team. Oishi knew for a fact that Yuuta wouldn't be coming, as a text sent to him last night from the boy revealed that his family were currently unable to let him go; he wasn't even able to consider going to back St Rudolph, although he anyone asked him if he wanted he would have replied 'probably not.' It also seemed that the Kikumarus were feeling the strain as well, and the two families were in constant touch with each other, hoping they could obtain some information that neither had. Oishi hadn't even thought about going around to the Kikumaru household, the place was painful to come near without the jumpy acrobatic hyper red head around to tease him or hug him randomly.

Wanting to tell the group together, Oishi had instructed Echizen not to tell anyone and let him say the verdict. It wasn't like he was like he wanted to keep it a secret from them, but he would rather do it where the walls didn't have ears. Oishi looked behind; the media was piled outside the main hospital doors, not allowed to come any closer due to security reason, i.e. they were kicked out as soon as they tried. Oishi, Echizen and Tezuka entered the building through a back route they had been shown. Walking slowly to the second floor where Momo's room was seemed like it took a long time. Tezuka wasn't one to drag things on so what was … Oishi nearly jumped out of his skin when Tezuka stopped suddenly.

"Whilst waiting for you, the doctor looking after Momo came to tell us something." The captain said not turning around. For every good thing, they always seemed to have three bad things. Things were not going their way … "It seems Momo had minor surgery due to the fact with the last bashing of the racket cracked one or two of his ribs. However they found something else as well." Oishi waited as Tezuka paused, it was almost like Tezuka was thinking on how to word it but the pause was almost killing Oishi. Tezuka couldn't be thinking on how to word things, he was just the guy to say it straight out and straight out it did. "It seems that on the racket beating on Momo's right leg; it caught on a sharp piece of metal that had become dislodged from the frame and tore deep into the muscle and along. The doctor said that he was probably feeling shock from the other numerous pains and the broken ribs that the wound on the leg wouldn't have registered with him. They've managed to keep him on painkillers so he is unable to feel the pain. They've stitched it shut but the likely hood is that Momo will be left with a scar and unable to stand on it. As soon as the wound closes, they are planning to put him on a rehabilitation course as quickly as possible but it could take months depending on how quickly he is able to regain use of his leg. His ability to play tennis is out of the question at the moment."

Oishi's eyes opened as wide as they could go, he wanted to deny it. He should have seen it, should have checked Momo more carefully, he could have done some earlier about it! He stumbled backwards, tripping over his left foot and would have fallen if not for Tezuka and his fast reactions. As normal it seemed the bucho was able to read what was on the mother hen's mind. "The doctor said there was nothing that could have been done better than what we did by bringing him to the hospital as quickly as possible. They didn't even find it until they had to perform the surgery." The captain said, helping Oishi stand up. For some reason that relieved the vice-captain but his head was still spinning from the new knowledge gained. Momo not being able to play tennis? Not being able to run or walk for a small while? He wondered how the ruffian of the Seigaku team dealt with that knowledge. Probably not in the best way. Nodding Oishi let Tezuka lead Echizen and himself to Momo's room. He quickly spared a glance at the young prodigy besides him, whom seemed slightly shaken but he could only tell because he had been Echizen so long.

Upon reaching the room, it was deathly silent. Momo lay on the bed with the specialist mattress in the middle of the square room, as not to put pressure on his back with all the wounds. He wore his own pjs from home however, underneath them his back and chest was bandaged, and his right leg was wounded in its own long bandage. He was looking out of the only window on his right, not saying anything. Oishi sighed, like he thought, the knowledge wasn't being taken in the best way. Kaidoh was standing by the window, which was only a few steps away from the bedside, staring at a spot on the bedside locker on Momo's right. Oishi could easily see he was angry. Inui was sat on a blue sofa the opposite of the room to the bed, the notebook besides him. Kawamura was pacing up and down, looking like he was going wear a hole through the floor.

The room was already tense enough. Oishi had no idea how they were going to react when he told them the verdict. For every good thing they had, they had three bad things whamming themselves in the face and Momo had yet to tell them what happened in his captivity.

* * *

**Okay permission granted to kill your Saotome clones even more! Whoever thought Momo got off lightly was sadly wrong ... :( ... *stalks off to her own room grabbing a Saotome clone to torture***

**Melodious Flurry: O_O. You can do whatever you like to your Saotome clone ... if you want I may inculde you in the story somewhere ... you seem eager enough to kill them ...**  
**eijikikumarufan01: *coughs* not too much damage ... sorry. As for Eiji, you'll probably find out soon enough. Yeah and this story is way not complete ... I would never do that to you lot.**  
**wannab4eva: Do I have to answer you here? Or can I do it in real life? Wait ... I already told you my answer to your review ... XP**  
**demoncat13: Well I needed him in one piece for this chapter. However! *pulls out a remote with a shiny big red button with a warning saying 'do not press'* this button here will set all the inmates at the mental house upon Saotome. A once in a lifetime chance to push the shiny big red button which says 'do not press'! I beg you to push it!**  
**BF: Lol, glad you liked the entrance. As the for the basement, none of the police would have known how to open it and Yuuta saw in his dream, so he would have had to open it. As for Eiji, you'll find out soon.**

**REVIEWS PLEASE! I HATE SAOTOME BY THE WAY! I AM DECLARING THIS NOW! I dislike how he got off easily on the trail ... grrr ...**


	17. Chapter 17

He tried as much as possible to get Eiji to talk to him, to say something other than the lies that were flowing out of the red head's mouth, being repeated over and over again. It was driving Fuji's head in. He hadn't been out of the room of where he had woken up for a few days; at least this place had a clock on the desk on his left. Eiji wouldn't let him out of bed for those few days and he hadn't seen Smith or Saotome at all. Eiji hadn't even mentioned Saotome's name whilst being here and seemed to have a huge refusal to call him anything else but Shusuke. Slowly and carefully Fuji sat up and twisted his legs around so his bare feet were touching the floor. They felt weak and shaky; it was the first time he would standing on his own without Eiji's support after the fever broke. Placing his left hand on the nearest desk, he pushed himself up and promptly fell back onto the bed again, like his legs hadn't expected the sudden weight of his upper body without some support from one side. Eyes open now, Fuji stared at his legs like that would some how make them strong again.

It was only a couple more minutes until he tried again, this time around however was successful and he was able to walk the short length of the room to the wooden door with the support of the desk and chest of drawers until he reached the wall. Opening the door slowly Fuji stepped out cautiously like he expected Eiji or Smith to appear in view and do something … Peering out he only saw the stairs on his right, to his left along the wall was another door, there was yet another door on the wall opposite the stairs, with two doors on the opposite wall to him. The one directly ahead he knew was the door to the bathroom, as it had been the only other room he had been in. The walls were whitewashed, and the carpet on the floor was a light blue colour, as the same in the bedroom Eiji and himself were situated in.

Frowning when he could hear no noise from downstairs, it was deathly silent; surely there was someone else in the house? Using the wall as support again, Fuji padded along and down the stairs, his legs were improving as he went along, enjoying the pleasure of more than walking to the bathroom with support. The stairs went down to a small landing before turning right and finishing out into a wood floored hall way, with a front door on the right and two doors on the opposite wall and two doors on the wall opposite the front door. All the furniture in the hallway was a dark wooden cabinet and a white box hanging on the wall. The doors were all closed, so he didn't know which one led where. Deciding to test his boundaries, Fuji made his way carefully to the front door and studied it. There were no locks on this side or chains etc, only a handle. Placing his right hand on the door handle he tried turning it to open it. It did turn but the door wouldn't open. Frowning Fuji tried again, not hearing the noise of another door opening behind him.

"It's bolted from the outside", a voice came from behind. Fuji would have jumped a mile if there weren't a few walls and doors in the way. He turned quickly and gave a sigh of relief when he realised it was Eiji standing in the middle of the hallway, feet set apart from one another, his left hand holding something that looked like a brochure. Fuji placed a hand across his chest; he never expected Eiji to be able to be that silent. Either that or the fever really took it out of him.

"What do you mean?" Fuji asked as the red head boy came up besides him, the brochure he had been holding placed down on the cabinet. There was no look of disapproval from the acrobatic tennis player for Fuji getting out of bed, almost like he had been expecting it to happen.

"I saw it once when Coach Smith left. The door is bolted from the outside with three bolts, all as new as each other, like someone had put it there quite recently. Beyond that is the porch from which there is the front door which he has the key. He's out at the moment; so he's bolted the door. When he's in the house, that box there," Eiji said pointing to the white box on the wall, "has several settings, one of which allows him to set an alarm on this door here. He puts that on when he's in the house and at night he puts the setting for the entire bottom floor to be alarmed. He showed me on the first day we got here. All the windows are locked on the ground floor, and he has the keys in his room, which he locks. The rooms on the first floor only have windows that open slanting. He thought it through when buying this house because it's also in the middle of nowhere; just fields all around us." Eiji explained with a resigned tone to his voice. Whilst he had been talking, all Eiji had been doing was staring at the wooden door. It also sounded like he was holding something back. Slowly Eiji's eyes drifted to the floor before looking at Fuji. "Let's get you back to bed; I have some soup ready for you." He said, placing his arm around Fuji's shoulders. Fuji struggled slightly, pushing Eiji away with his recovering strength.

"Not unless you agree to tell me what's going." Fuji countered; he had enough of being told lies. Eiji gave a long sigh and nodded. "And I can walk up to the room without any help."

"Nya!" Eiji said before doing a dramatic turn, throwing his hands up the air and started walking to the kitchen. As Fuji made his way up the stairs, he could sworn he saw a smile. Not one like the red head used to have but a smile none the less.

Fuji had only just settled himself into the bed in a sitting position before Eiji appeared around the door holding a tray with chicken soup and a glass of water, and for some reason the brochure that he had in his hand earlier. Eiji set the tray down on the desk, promptly and handed the soup to Fuji before settling on one of the chairs. Fuji quickly finished the soup, preferring to get that out of the way first. Eiji was slumped on the chair not looking his way, his chin resting on his hands. Fuji frowned and placed the now empty bowl on the side.

"I don't want to hear anymore of those lies." Fuji said fiercely. "Answer my questions truthfully." There was no answer, so Fuji took it as meaning a yes. "First where are we?" There was a sigh from the other boy before he looked at Fuji.

"A place called Lincolnshire in England. It's a pretty isolated area."  
"How did we get here?"

"On plane, Coach Smith had fake passports made for us and other things."

"Why didn't you stop him Eiji? You could have told someone."  
"Fuji …" Eiji whispered. "You were ill so you wouldn't have known this but the night before they brought us here, it seems they had kidnapped Momo as well. I couldn't do anything because they have Momo and Coach Smith said that he would hurt you and have Momo hurt as well if I tried to escape or tell someone." There was a quiver to Eiji's voice, to Fuji it almost sounded like a scared child. "You were so ill; you wouldn't wake up sometimes and when you did all you asked was for Yuuta and if he was alright. Then we got here, you just didn't speak anymore and you just lay there on the bed. You were really pale and Coach Smith and Coach Saotome wouldn't do anything to help. You woke up in the middle of the night, you were really hot, all I could do is watch and it really scared me Fuji! Sometimes I thought you were going to die!" With those words Eiji launched off the chair and crashed into Fuji, tears pouring down his face at the memories of the painful two weeks. The tensai was surprised; his blue eyes had remained open during the conversation. Wrapping his arms around Eiji, he held him in a hug tightly whilst trying to process the information. So they couldn't do anything, otherwise Momo's life would be in danger.

"So he made up a story to bring us to England so we wouldn't be found." Fuji muttered to himself, "but why go through all that trouble?"

"Because it seems that we have to go to a school here in England. Hffe wants us to become professional players and humiliate someone he has a rivalry with, and for that to happen we need to be known to the world and be able to train against different people. That's all the school is being used for by Coach Smith, for us to beat other people." Fuji shook his head and looked down at the red head, he didn't realise that Eiji had been listening to his mutterings. "That's the school brochure, its called William Farr School." Eiji nodded at the pamphlet. "It's also where he's gone to pick up our school uniform" he whispered. "We start on Monday."  
"Three days" Fuji said more to himself. Smith was playing to the English system and using it to cover what he was really doing. "Smith Shusuke," the name sounded foreign on his tongue. Eiji shook his head sitting up finally, wiping away the remainder of the tears.

"It's Shusuke Smith, Eiji Smith. It's an English custom if I remember from … our old school lessons." The quiver in Eiji's voice was back. Fuji decided that he rather liked hugging Eiji and did so promptly. It brought somewhat of normality to the situation again.

* * *

**Hmmmm ... not so happy with the start of this chapter ... Anyway, that school, 'William Farr' is actually my old school XP, which is why I am using it instead of a made up one because I feel more comfortable in using it and before anyone says anything, Lincolnshire is like being isolated in time from the rest of the country of England. Its terrible, its a very big spacy place with lots of fields ... **

**eijikikumarufan01: There you go an Eiji and Fuji chapter. Iffy about it ...**  
**Speede: HI HI! And I would never click complete because if I did I would have to make a sequel straight away and there would be no point. **  
**demoncat13: Well you can enjoy whilst it lasts. I can always put another Saotome copy in there for you and you can keep on watching the pleasure over and over again live! Isn't live so much better than a recording?**

**Reviews please, I want to know what you thought about this chapter. **


	18. Chapter 18

The metal sticks was stuck in the hole between the gear stick and his seat; although it was better than having to go around in a chair all day, it still indicated to the world that he couldn't do something and that he was temporally disabled. Mamushi would never let him live this one down; he only hoped Tezuka would be able to do something before he wacked the Viper over the head with it. Momo shook his head, he wasn't even at the school yet and he was having thoughts of fighting with Kaidoh; what the heck was he doing thinking those kind of things?

Blowing a long sigh, Momo looked out of the front window. First day back at school for several months, and things had majorly changed already. 'For the first and major factor, Fuji-sempai and Eiji-sempai are still missing; no one has heard a word about them. The police say they can't find anything new and it's only a matter of time before they have to leave it or until a big disaster comes along.' It was almost like they had disappeared into thin air without any warning. 'It's affecting everyone. I heard from Oishi-sempai that Tezuka keeps turning his application down for Germany, saying that he won't go back until they are found and brought safely back. Everyone knows that the offer of becoming pro was only for a limited time.' Momo frowned, 'why is everything on a limited amount of time? Why can't time just stop? Just to stop long enough for everything to be alright again. Or even better, go back in time. Go back to after the nationals, don't attend that stupid camp, and don't watch Eiji-sempai being beaten, don't watch Fuji-sempai being so ill, don't have to deal with this stupid leg!' Momo kicked with his left leg at the carpet in the foot well of the car.

"Takeshi? Are you sure you're alright with this? I mean we can wait a few more days and then try again. You don't have to come today." Came the anxious voice besides him. Momo turned his head and looked at his mum who was driving him to school and gave a small smile.

"I'm fine with it mum. Besides it's already arranged with the school, besides if we don't do it today then it will give you a reason not to do it tomorrow and tomorrow etc etc etc." Momo said trying to reason with the already over anxious woman.

"If your sure", there was a hesitant pause at the end "make sure you ring me if anything goes wrong and I'll come and pick up."

Momo shook his head, he didn't blame his mother for being this way but he had already been in the hospital for 5 weeks and at home for another week. He was getting bored of being cooped up. He had spent the first week in bed before the wound had closed on his leg and he could begin with the rehabilitation course. It had been a tedious few weeks of being pushed around in a wheelchair, unable to support himself, having to ring for a male nurse to help when ever he need to go to the bathroom. Even though he had managed to progress from a wheelchair to crutches in less than three weeks, which he had been told was faster than what the doctors predicted, he was struggling to get further even with his determination. The remainder of the Seigaku regulars had been around to support him during the course constantly, even when he had been tired and snappy because he had used all his strength to try and push himself into walking. They had come every day they could, mainly after school and tennis practice when it started again. Tennis was still a dream far off and it had hurt Momo to leave it behind that day, he had almost picked it up twice that morning before the sight of the metal crutches had forced it into his mind that he wasn't even allowed to play the thing he loved the most (apart from food). No one had talked about the condition of the tennis club during the time they had come to visit him and he dare not ask.

The school pulled into sight around the corner and Momo watched his mother take a deep breath. It almost made him laugh. He was supposed to be nervous he guessed but he didn't look as half frightened as his mother did, but he didn't mention that as the car pulled into a spare spot in the school car park. The head teacher was there waiting for them. It had been agreed that Momo would start after the bell went in the morning to avoid the rush of the crowds of students getting to their class.

He quickly noted, as he reached down for the crutches that his mother had taken school bag, probably trying to make his life as easy as possible. The door opened besides him and Momo sat up with the 'metal things', as he liked to call them when talking to other people. He twisted himself around and with some help from his mother e.g. supporting him at the elbow as he got out; he somehow managed to hop over to the head teacher without falling over, who started talking almost as soon as he managed to get in front of him.

"One of your classmates will be helping you around the school. Your teacher has agreed to help you in anyway possible with catching up on the work you missed, although I hope you got all the paperwork that was sent home." Momo nodded, thinking about the pile of work he had actually done just because he had been that bored at home stuck in bed or on the sofa in the living room. Who knew daytime TV could be so boring? And he had made a mental note never to pick up one his dad's newspapers again. "The nurse has received all the files from the hospital and your doctor. She has requested to see you about ten minutes before the lunch bell to check that you're doing okay, so your teacher has agreed to let you and your classmate go. It should also give you enough time to get some lunch before the queues start and it could become a painful wait for the food. She also mentioned that you're supposed to be carrying around some cream with you to help with any pain or tightness you may feel in your leg. Have you got it?" Momo opened his mouth to try and speak but was overwritten by the anxious and frantic mother behind him.

"It's in his bag and I already agreed over the phone that it would be allowed for my son to carry his mobile in class in case he needs to come home didn't I?" The talking carried on and on it seemed, 'between the two of them, they could worry for Japan. If you added Oishi-sempai in, they could worry for the world.' Momo mused turning to the steps that were leading up into the main building. That was his biggest worry, getting up and down those stairs. Not that he had expressed that to anyone, he didn't want to give them more reason to worry.

As much as he enjoyed his family fussing over him, there was only so much one person could take. He remembered the first few days of being in hospital; he had actually flinched whenever some came too close, or even touched him. Another part that had just been as bad was the fact he could only call people by their names, his voice just seemed to shut down whenever he tried to speak afterwards. Momo could do nothing; his body had just reacted on its own without any warning. He still flinched sometimes when someone tried to touch him and he wasn't expecting it; although it was more in the way of hugs now. His mother had taken to the habit of hugging him now and then for some reason; like she was checking he was still there, which always proved interesting when on crutches in the house. His voice would still sometimes shut down on its own but that was less than rare and when only talking about things that happened in the cabin, giving him painful memories. He was also told he would be supporting two or three scars on his back, the rest of the wounds fading away. He even checked in the mirror to make sure they were actually going away. For some reason his mother's worries were rubbing off on him. However the biggest reminder on his body that he had been treated in such a bad way was the scar on the back of his right leg calf. It was currently under a supporting bandage which wrapped around the bottom of his foot to give him as much comfort as possible. The support bandage was then hidden by the trouser leg of his black school uniform.

Easing his way up the first of stairs he looked at the lockers where they kept the change of shoes. Sighing Momo hopped over to his, which happened to be four levels up and opened it carefully, balancing himself on his left crutch. With much difficult he managed to somehow make it to the edge of the wooden platform, sit down and ease his own outdoor shoes off. Such a simple task seemed so difficult now. Placing his own outdoor shoes on his right, he started to put his indoor shoes on. When he turned back again he noticed they were gone. Frowning Momo looked around, he could have sworn he placed them besides him. He heard a small laugh from behind him. Turning he saw Oishi placing his outdoor shoes into his locker with Kawamura standing next to him.

"We heard you were coming back today Momo" Kawamura said, coming over to help Momo stand up again, the same way Momo's mother had helped him out of the car.

"Thanks Kawamura sempai. Why are you both out of class?" he asked curiously.

"The probability that Oishi was sent out of class by the sensei because he was worrying about you is 97%, there is a 2% chance that he asked the sensei to leave the classroom and a 1% chance that there is another reason." Inui said appearing out of nowhere as per usual, leaving Momo shocked slightly by the sudden appearance. Oishi was blushing a slight shade of pink.

"He never even got to the classroom," came the stern voice of Tezuka as he walked into view, Echizen following behind. Even Kaidoh was there as well. It almost felt complete to Momo with the exception of two things, Fuji and Eiji.

"Wh… wh…" Momo stopped for a few moments to clear the stutter; annoying voice was shutting down again, "Why are you all here?"

"I think we just wanted to make sure you were alright Momo." Kawamura said, "It's been a while since we've last seen you at school."  
"You've seen me at home and in the hospital." Momo countered.

"It's different. I hope you can join us for lunch Momo, we tend to meet up on the roof now." Kawamura finished. Momo gave a short smile and rubbed the back of his head with his right hand, once again supporting himself on his left crutch.

"I'll try Kawamura-sempai." Momo gave a small laugh "Even Viper was concerned?" he asked teasingly.

"Baka," Kaidoh countered quickly, "I have to help you out."

"What? Why you?" Momo said hopping over to Kaidoh, who started walking away  
"I got drawn out of the hat."  
"Of all the unlucky …" Momo's voice trailed off down the hallway. Oishi gave a long sigh of relief as Inui gave a slight quirky smile.  
"There is a 100% chance that Kaidoh is lying," the data tennis player said. Oishi frowned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Why's that?"

"Because I heard from the other classmates they never even got a chance to try and volunteer." Oishi closed his eyes, rubbing his temples, smiling all the while. Momo and Kaidoh fighting felt like it was bringing something back. Eventually the other regulars made their way back to their classrooms, no one realising that the head teacher and an anxious mother were still talking in the car park.

* * *

**NYA! I now have a Eiji Kikumaru pillow in the post on its way to me! (I can give you the site address if you want one XP) I can't wait! Maybe I should have order a Fuji one as well, nah, I should have ordered the whole lot darn it! Never mind ... I got Eiji ... I'll beg for the others off people as presents. **  
**Oh you people are so lucky to get a chapter today, I nearly didn't have time to do one because I had two pieces of work due into today.**  
**Oh I also meant to ask if people can guess who Coach Smith's rival is? BF got it ... **

**Eijikikumarufan01: There is a reason why I chose my school because I know the system there better than anywhere else. That's why I feel comfortable in order for them to attend the lessons at the school ... well they should be in Japan but whilst their in England ...**  
**demoncat13: *is now busy ordering tickets home so she can go and watch Seigaku and Rikkai turn up* (I am literally ordering tickets home as well XP), wait, why have you got Rikkai coming as well? Oh and you now have 365 clones in the mad house, one for every day of the year and don't worry, they can be replaced at the end free of charge**  
**Melodious Flurry: Its fine, everyone is entitled to their insanity flips. I have one nearly everyday XD**  
**BF: Momo is recovering just about, still some emotional issues here and there. Oh and I never even remembered about Stockholm Syndrome, so thanks for reminding me ... As for being abused, well all I can say is that Smith likes the local pub.**

**Reviews please! Make me very happy. **


	19. Chapter 19

Fuji adjusted the tie around his neck once again with his right hand; as the left was carrying the black school bag that Smith had given both him and Eiji. Over his right shoulder was his tennis bag containing two tennis rackets, almost similar in style to what he had in Japan, and his sports uniform. Seemed Smith was eager to spend money when it involved tennis and maintaining what seemed the perfect family lifestyle whilst Fuji and Eiji were in the public eye. He wasn't so kind back at the house.

It had only been two weeks since they had started the school before they were invited to compete in a tennis tournament with another local school. Their 'guardian' had to be the one who signed the letter which would allow them to compete. There had been nothing to do apart from giving Smith the letter and handing it in; they had no other choice it seemed. It wasn't tough competition, the other school wasn't like this one they were attending and they were nowhere the level of any Seigaku Regular. Fuji had played singles, and won without a game going against him but it almost broke his heart when Eiji had been placed in a doubles game. They had won 6-2 but Fuji saw the longing in Eiji's eyes for his partner to be not the stranger but Oishi. It had got worse when they went back to the house; they couldn't think of it as a home just yet. It had gone as it normally had; Smith would let them change into a polo shirt, tracksuit bottoms and trainers before taking them out to the tennis court in the back garden, making them play against one another. No neighbours around the house for miles on end so no noise could be heard. Smith forced them to speak in English when around him, which was difficult. At school they had a translator each and the books bought for them were in Japanese, so Eiji and Fuji tried not to speak whilst with Smith.

It had taken 20 minutes for Fuji to loose the first point of the match. He remembered Smith coming over to him and picking him up by the front of his shirt with his right hand. He remembered smelling the alcohol on his breath, meaning he had been to the pub earlier which was not the best sign.

"Did you win your game?" Came the hiss from the elder and taller man. Fuji nodded; the grip on the front of his shirt was starting to hurt. Smith had lifted him so high that he wasn't even able to touch the floor with his foot. "What was the score?"

"si-si-six love" Fuji said softly.

"You sure? Remember I'll find out if you're lying." Seemed Smith had a friendly acquaintance with one of the sport department teachers; the person didn't know about Smith's activities at home so the man was open to talking about Fuji and Eiji and their progress in the sports world when they met at the weekend. Fuji had shook his head as he watched Smith turn his head towards Eiji fear gripping him. "And you?"

"I won" Eiji said quietly, the acrobatic player was looking at the ground.

"And the score boy. Come on!" Smith got impatient at that point and had grasped Fuji's shirt so hard it had made it difficult to breathe. That's when he started to loose unconsciousness.

"Six games to two", all Fuji remembered after that was being thrown backwards and hitting the concrete wall around the courtyard and the blackness over taking him. He had woken up to the alarm the next morning not remembering anything, although his back had been very sore. When he had come downstairs to the kitchen Smith just simply chucked a key at him and told him to release Eiji from the small storage cupboard. It was a very small storage cupboard, there wasn't even enough space to move and to many people fitting a human in there would be inhumane, even a child would have problems. That's when the memories had come back to Fuji and he had raced upstairs to release a very red-eyed and tired looking Eiji from the cupboard. Forced to still go to school that day Eiji had told people that he hadn't been able to go to sleep that night, which was somewhat true. Although not allowed to beat them so severely here, Smith still found ways to make their lives hell.

It was now December and that memory was still ingrained on the two boys mind. It didn't help that these were the last two weeks of school and Christmas was only three weeks around the corner. It had snowed one or two times but only as a light scattering across the country. The school had its Christmas decorations up since the beginning of the month but to the two tennis players it still didn't feel at all like Christmas. Called a time to be with family, to be happy and be to delighting in everything, it felt everything but that to Fuji and Eiji. They had received a few cards by the Christmas post thing but because they were given no time to shop nor being given any money they had nothing to give back.

Silently the two boys entered one of the many buildings scattered around, following the way to what was called their form room. It was used as a science room during the day but for the twenty minute period before the school lesson began it was a form room. The room was already filled with other people, chatting away to each other in a language that Fuji and Eiji had managed to improve on but still got lost quarter way through a conversation with people. Both boys sat down at one of the tables which only had two stools around it, they didn't know why but it just gave the feeling of some security before the rush of the day happened. It was also one of the only times when they were able to speak in Japanese with one another, the other time being at night when Smith had gone out to the pub.

"What have you got today Eiji?" Fuji asked the other boy, missing the red head he used to know before this even ever happened. The one that used to bounce about all the time, hugging everyone non-stop, the person that everyone could not be serious around because he always enjoying life to its maximum.

"Hmm… I got maths first, then a free before doing cooking." Eiji sighed, his right elbow resting on his chin, his school bag on the table in front of him, his tennis bag besides his chair. "Then sports, then science and then back to him," 'him' was said with a slight hiss accompanying it. Everyday it seemed that Fuji was reminded of everyone back home. Fuji nodded in agreement to the timetable. He had almost the exact same timetable for that day apart from cooking which he had instead photography. The school provided Eiji and Fuji with the cooking ingredients and a professional camera (it was loaned to Fuji) due to the fact that Smith was supposed to be a poor man on job seekers. They both knew that Smith's company back in America was booming in profit. He had been grateful to be able to take a subject that he loved and Eiji seemed to love doing cooking and was doing well at it.

His thoughts were interrupted by a cough next to him. He was caught off guard but he managed to catch himself before being noticed by the girl standing next to him. Eiji would have noticed but ever since this ordeal started, which would about four months sometime towards the end of the year, he seemed to be able to tell a lot more things about Eiji and he presumed it was vice-versa.

"Excuse me Shusuke?" the girl asked. It had taken Fuji awhile to being called by his given name; it still felt weird. It also felt weird not using chan, san, kun, sempai or sensei on anyone's last name and all fellow students you more or less called by their first name.

"Yes Ushio?" he asked, reverting to English whilst giving one of smiles to her, the natural ones full of joy were rare now and he often wore a fake smile when talking to many people. Eiji had told him that he knew by the fact Fuji never had his eyes closed anymore when wearing his fake smile. Ushio was one of the girls in the form class that talked to both of them and made the school feel slightly bearable. If she had been in their class in Japan he might have regarded her as a good friend. He made the resolution that if they ever managed to get back home without getting Momo hurt in the process then he would tell her about what happened to them.

"I know you said you didn't want to have anything because you wouldn't be able to give something back and it would be unfair but I did want to give you something for Christmas." She said slowly, she knew how hard it was for them to keep up in English and therefore always slowed her speech around them. She reached into her school bag and handed across two wrapped items, one medium squishy looking one across to Eiji who took it in surprise and with curiosity and one hard looking one. "You can open them now if you want" she said excitedly. Fuji nodded, deciding that it would make her happy. He watched as Eiji delved into the red Christmas wrapping paper, tearing large bits off.

Fuji gave a genuine smile with eyes closed when Eiji held up a medium sized, brown, squishy and cuddly looking teddy bear which would have to be placed in his tennis bag because his school bag was just slightly on the small side.

"Thank you Ushio" he said in English smiling and cuddling the bear, obviously not caring what the others thought in the class. Fuji knew that his bear at home was one of the things he missed.

"Shusuke said you liked teddy bears so I thought I would get you one," Ushio said smiling before turning to Fuji. "Are you going to open yours?" she asked. Fuji nodded as he looked at the rectangular packaging before him in blue Christmas paper. Carefully, as not to tear the paper, he opened it and pulled out what he thought it would be which was a pair of books. He placed them side by side.

"Thank you Ushio" he said, looking at the excited English girl who was pleased that she was able to give both boys something they would like.

"I made sure to get it in Japanese" she said nodding her head. Fuji nodded and looked at the books again; one entitled 'Advance Techniques in Photography' and one simply named 'Cacti', with a subtitle saying 'all about the mysterious plant.' He would enjoy reading them. "Eiji said you liked Cacti." Fuji looked over at the acrobatic player who returned the look with a sticking out tongue.

"You told her I like teddy bears," Eiji said in English so Ushio would understand. Fuji gave a small laugh. He hoped they would be home before Christmas, he sincerely hoped they would, but Ushio had made the idea of being stuck in England for Christmas slightly more bearable.

* * *

**Just to say, Ushio is actually the name that eijikikumarufan01 wanted to adopt in this story, so that's her! I may inculde other reviewers later on in the story but you need to review! And yes Christmas is just around the corner in this fanfic, so the question is will Fuji and Eiji get rescued before Christmas? You'll know the answer in the next chapter ...**

**demoncat13: Your planning to take Momo along as well? With his leg in that condition? I think Oishi would probably have words about that. Are you taking Yuuta along as well? You can't leave Yuuta out!**  
**eijikikumarufan01: Your in the story! And talking/giving presents to Fuji and Eiji XD. Hope this chapter clears up some of the confusion on how they will attend school. As for Momo, he's probably going to be very fustrated for a while ...**  
**walaakongkwenta: I like the username ... anyway its nice to know that you've been reading it from the start. As for updating everyday, I do try. Sunday got two updates ... This isn't my first fanfic but the two I had before I never completed because of something and I deleted. As for Sasabe, he would be here if I wanted a really stupid character to get caught quickly. Echizen isn't in the limelight because he's not the main focus of the story, nor was Momo meant to be in such a big spotlight, he just came in. He might have a bigger role later, he might not. Yes the length of your review does actually say it all, arigatou gozaimasu.**

**REVIEWS! Please? pretty please ... **


	20. Chapter 20

Oishi lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling above him, white and lifeless. Music was playing from downstairs and he could hear it through the walls and floor. Happy Christmas music, cheerful, celebrating, enjoying themselves … It was late afternoon and it wouldn't be long until his mother called him to join them for the large meal she had been preparing all day. He had tried to enjoy himself; being dragged out of bed by his younger sister sometime in the early hours of this morning to watch her open gifts before having to open his own. He had wished he could have been as young as that; the dear age of 6 when nothing in the world could get in the way of celebrating the good times. In the rush of the excitement and pleasure he did actually forget all worries about the world. He laughed, smiled, happiness pouring out of him, being able to hug his sister without clinging on in worry that if he let her go she would disappear. Oishi forgot everything for a brief few hours, he didn't mean to, but as his parents said, it was good to see there was something of the old Oishi still there. The one before the mess began. However some pleasure can only last for so long.

There had been an excited call from Momo part way through the day after dinner, with a hurried happy Christmas and news that he had been told by the doctor that he was progress quickly enough to start using one crutch instead of the two to get around. He would still have to use both for long periods but it was a start on getting rid of the metal things as Momo insisted on calling them. The phone call had brought Oishi back and reminded him of the fact that two families wouldn't be having a good Christmas like he had this morning. He still was able to smile though when his sister bounced out of the living room in her new dressing up item of a red fairy; waving her wand around like mad. The true dampener on Christmas came much later in the form of the phone ringing two hours later. Oishi had gone to answer it; he remembered it so vividly. Each word ringing in his mind, in particular one sentence, that phone call had changed everything.

"Oishi residence," he had answered his voice crisp and clear.

"May I speak to Oishi Shuichiro san please," a woman's voice came clearly over the phone.

"Speaking," Oishi said, trying to think where he had heard this woman's voice before, it sounded familiar and brought back that chill again.

"You may not remember me but we spoke back at the cabin when Saotome was arrested," the woman continued over the phone.

"Ah, the one with the codename demoncat13," Oishi clicked, blushing slightly over the phone. She never had said her real name, so he didn't know what to call apart from that.

"Ahhh, yes. You may remember that I'm in charge of the case involving your missing friends," it was said with a tense tone to the voice. Oishi grabbed at the phone tightly, his hands turning white.

"Have they been found?" he asked, his breathing getting quicker.

"I'm afraid not," the woman said softly. "I'm sorry I have to inform you of this today but it was requested by the main board of the police," Oishi's eyes opened wide, what was going on?

"You may not have been aware of this but just over two weeks ago, Saotome managed to take a drug overdose on the negligence of the institution's part. He was in a coma up until 6 days ago when he woke. We received notice from the hospital, who was keeping a close eye on him, late yesterday that Saotome seemingly has amnesia. He was our last strong lead in the investigation. The decision was taken by the board this morning that with all main leads now closed to us that the case is going to be filled as a closed case. We received notice from them only an hour ago that we are moving on. Without any positive main leads, we will be running around in circles. The families were informed first and the rest of your friends are being informed at the moment. I'm sorry to deliver such news to you today of all days. I'm so sorry, we'll keep an eye out for anything new but the case has now been …" Oishi didn't hear anything else as like on automatic clockwork he placed the phone back on its hook.

He didn't say anything as he turned and started up the stairs, taking support from the railing. Somehow he made to his room without falling over and onto the bed. That's how he ended up on the bed staring up at the ceiling. Time seemingly had stopped for him, the words 'decision taken by the board' and 'closed case' echoing inside his head. He had thought, no everyone in the Seigaku regulars, including Momo who was still regarded as a regular of the group and now took care of Inui's old job of managing the regulars, they all had agreed that Saotome could do nothing to them now he was safely locked away in a mental asylum. The bitter irony of that statement now mocked him in the face.

After what seemed a life time had passed and repeated itself Oishi looked over at his desk, where a shiny golden bag stood upright on the table. Eiji's Christmas present, the one he had hoped he would be able to give him along with the birthday present that he had also bought in hope that he would be give them to Eiji for Christmas. Sitting up from his lying position on the bed, he pushed himself away from it and walked over to where the present stood almost innocently looking. Picking it up with his right hand shaking like mad, Oishi walked over to his dark wooden cupboard, opening it slowly, he placed it in the shelf that was at the top of it next to the birthday present and Fuji's Christmas present. Stepping back Oishi stood there for what felt like an eternity, his hands on the doors, ready to close it but whenever he tried he just couldn't find the strength. In the end he left it open as he returned to his bed, returning to looking at that white lifeless ceiling, tossing himself over only seconds later.

His mother came an hour afterwards, curious to why her son had not answered her calls to food. After receiving no answer from knocking on his door, she opened it to find her eldest child asleep on the bed. Oishi was on lying on his front, his right hand gripping the pillow whilst the left was sprawled out on the pillow. His face was turned to the right, and around it was what seemed a damp patch on the pillow. The reason was clear from the red tear stain marks that ran down the boy's cheeks, some tears were still trickling even in his sleep. With a quiet sigh, Oishi's mother closed the cupboard doors; noting the golden bag that had been on the desk had been moved, leaving the room and returning only seconds later with a spare blanket in which she covered her only son with. It was like that she left him to inform the rest of the family that he would not be coming down to eat. She could only guess that something terrible had happened with the case.

**POT**

Kawamura sat on the sofa, staring at his knees or at least it looked like that, his arms almost hung limply at his sides. He didn't know how much time had passed since he had got that phone call. He didn't know how long it was since his father had sat besides him on his left and placed an arm around him, holding him close. He didn't know how much time had passed since he babbled everything out, ever regret, every wish, every hope which had been shattered. All he knew was that everything was now crashing down, where was the team that won the nationals? The team that had won and worked so very hard to get through to that position? The team that had supported each other? He remembered Eiji and Fuji had once told him that he should continue with tennis; if even as a hobby. He remembered laughing saying that tennis was only serious for now; the Sushi restaurant would be his mission when entering high school. It was not the hold of a sushi knife he longed for right now, it was the feel of … jerking back to life when he felt something hard but soft being pushed into his left hand. He looked down and was surprised to see a neon green tennis ball. He looked up at his father who gave a sad smile.

"The Sushi restaurant can wait. Your friends hope for you cannot. I'm not that old just yet." Kawamura gave an equally sad smile and hugged his father tightly, the tennis ball being held just as tightly in his hand. The big dreams sometimes needed to be delayed.

**POT**

Tezuka had the phone up to his ear; his mother was standing watching from the kitchen as he spoke with that deep strict voice. He was making a long distance call, which had to be done on that day. It looked like it had taken a while for him to get to the people he wanted to talk to but he had arrived there and was part way through the conversation.

"Offer the position to someone else then," Tezuka said, his eyes were focused on the wall in front of him as there was a pause. "I gave my word to some people and I cannot back down on it," another pause followed. "I keep my promises. I cannot take this position at the moment." With swift movements he placed the phone back on the receiver and looked at his mother with the same expression that he always wore. "I'll be applying to Seishun Gakuen high school for next year," he gave in the way of explanation.

"What about Germany and the offer of being pro?" she asked, curious on what made Tezuka change his mind.

"Germany was always going to be on halt with people missing from my team. I keep my promises," Tezuka answered with that tone that this was the last he was going to talk about the matter. His mother knew the promise that he had been talking about, the promise that he would leave for becoming pro when Fuji and Kikumaru came back and not before

**POT**

It had been the first time he had gone running in the snow, it had been the first time he had gone running on Christmas day, it was also the first time he had left his family at home without any warning or explanation. He didn't have a watch on, so he didn't know how long he had been running. It was all he had been doing ever since he had received that phone call. He had hung up on the police officer, even though it wasn't their fault. Looking around for the first time Kaidoh realised where he had been running to, unconsciously though. It was the way to school, it felt almost like if he ran there he would see Kikumaru-sempai and Fuji-sempai on the tennis courts waiting for everyone to turn up and start playing. With a slow trudge Kaidoh turned himself around. It was getting dark. It was time to go home and accept the harsh reality.

**POT**

Inui looked at the blackened liquid in front of him; it was still not right. It was supposed to be a neon yellow colour according to his calculations; not the black muck. It was also supposed to move easily, freely in a liquid form and not move like it was slop. He had been trying to perfect this one for the last week, but only today, after that phone call, it had actually gone downhill. Frowning Inui reached to his side for his green notebook which held all the recipes for his famous Inui's juices in. When he pulled what he presumed was his notebook, he looked down at them and realised he had grabbed the wrong two. They were the notebooks full of data on Fuji and Kikumaru. Of course the one on Fuji had always proved fruitless because whenever Inui managed to get data on the tensai; Fuji had simply changed. The one person he could never collect data on. Deciding that maybe he ought to take a break from the new Inui juice, he pushed his chair away from the desk, one of the two green notebooks already open as he started to read. Maybe he would find an answer in the dream pair's data…

**POT**

Echizen watched from the distance of the doorway as his father, Nanjiroh, was trying to tease Karupin again with the catnip toy. His father should have learnt by the 17th time that if kept on waving anything in front of Karupin out of the cat's reach, he would get nipped. Normally Echizen could count until that moment happened, but this time he only watched with a distant gaze. Sure enough the elder man yelled and jumped up when Karupin nipped him on the toe, running off with the toy and jumping into Echizen's arms. "Baka" he said to Nanjiroh before turning around.  
"Oi, Ryoma. Please a game with tennis with me." Echizen stopped for only a few seconds before carrying on towards his room.

"No." Was the only reply Nanjiroh got. Echizen sat down on his bed, Karupin still in his arms. After a small while, Echizen lifted the cat up and hugged him, taking comfort in the small creature from his tortured thoughts.

**POT**

Momo hadn't answered the phone when the police station called; as his mother and father were still insisting that he relax as much as possible, so he had been sitting on the sofa, leg propped up. Try as much as he wanted, he could not get another budge out of them. The most he had managed to get out of them was being able to walk back with other members of the tennis team on the way home or on the way to the doctors' to get therapy for his leg or updates. The phone now had been lying on the other side of the living room for a while now; a stormy look in Momo's eyes. His parents had said nothing, waiting for their son to start talking.  
"Damn Saotome" was the first thing Momo had said in a while, glaring at his right leg. "Damn it!" Momo shouted pounding his fists on his right thigh. His mother quickly caught into action and grabbed Momo's wrists before he could do it again, there hadn't been much power in the pounding but it was enough to indicate something was seriously wrong. Momo's head sagged forwards, "damn him," he whispered. His mother and father soon had him caught in the middle of a comforting hug, giving as much comfort as they could without the use of words.

**POT**

There had been no attempt at a Christmas cheer in either the Kikumaru or Fuji household. The morning had been spent in silence in the Fuji household, with the whole family attending. How everyone had jumped when the phone went, hopes raised only slightly, for them to be to dashed and trampled on with the information from the decision from the police board. It had only been half an hour before Kikumaru Eiji's parents had phoned up and started talking to Shusuke's parents. It had been then Yuuta had escaped to his room; whilst for the remaining Seigaku regulars time had no meaning and had no space in their lives at the moment, Yuuta was aware of every single painful second that had gone by.

He had returned to St Rudolph's for a small period of 5 weeks before the Christmas holidays with the deal that he came home at Christmas. It was him trying to escape from the world where his brother was normally and had disappeared. It had been terrible for the first 2 or 3 weeks when everyone whispered and tiptoed around him but he had got used to it. Staying at St Rudolph's was easier than being here. It was now late at night, the moon was high in the sky and it was still snowing. 'This would have been a day that Aniki would have enjoyed' Yuuta thought staring at the snow flakes. 'It didn't snow last year.' With a long sigh Yuuta looked at the addition to his window sill, Shusuke's cactus stood there. It was the only thing that Yuuta could look at it which belonged to his brother; he was beginning to understand what Shusuke liked about the plants. "Aniki" Yuuta whispered softly

* * *

**One big major thing going on in this chapter (apart from Christmas and no Eiji and Fuji coming home), the case being closed (blame the police board and the mental asylum for letting Saotome overdose himself! Oh and Saotome himself). This chapter is offically the longest I've done; it's also one of the hardest if not the hardest. I would like to know if this managed to affect anyone in terms of emotion? This chapter was even harder to write than the ones were Momo/Eiji/Fuji being hit and those were hard chapters ...**

**demoncat13: Your back in the story again! Only with sad news this time :( I just thought of something, Tezuka could probably rescue Fuji and Eiji by staring at Smith ...**  
**Melodious Flurry: I had to give Eiji a teddy bear! Eiji needed a teddy bear major time, Fuji has a camera from the school but Eiji didn't have anything really (i'm not counting the tennis, that comes naturally). As for Christmas, well ... yeah this chapter explains their not.**  
**eijikikumarufan01: I got to live in Lincolnshire! Take him to a deserted Island and murder him there, its probably the next most isolated place compared to my home county. Oh! Instead of pushing Smith in front of a bus or car, what about a train? As for your part, you'll probably pop up again in the story.**

**Reviews please! I want to know how you feel about this chapter. Please!**


	21. Chapter 21

It was the one day where he wanted to lie in bed all day and not have to think about anything, or do anything. However his body disagreed with him and when he blinked his eyes open that morning, the digital alarm clock next to him flashed a solid red 10:34 at him; if Smith was in they would be already on the tennis court playing a game. He already tried turning around and going back off to sleep; gaining only an hour extra sleep. The bunk above him wasn't rustling with the noises of Eiji turning over holding the teddy bear he had been given by Ushio (who he had named Mr Teddy Bear for some random reason Fuji didn't know), meaning that the red head was already up and probably going around the kitchen or reading a school book. Smith didn't care much for books and so there were very few scattered around, all of which were in English and difficult to understand using words that they had never even heard of. So school books became the other source of extra-circular activities apart from tennis, photography for Fuji and cooking for Eiji.

Fuji turned over once again, wanting to try and get some more sleep. It was Christmas Day and Coach Smith had decided he was going to go out the night before; announcing he would not be around until Boxing Day, leaving the house to the two boys. Coach Smith had probably gone down to the pub again for Christmas, and Fuji was glad he wouldn't be coming back in a drunken state. He was still supporting the bruises and bearing the memory of being locked in that cupboard from the last time. A drunken Coach Smith was never a pleasant one, always finding a fault in their tennis play, or a fault in their personalities (Fuji remembered once that he found a fault in Eiji for being too acrobatic) or a fault in not being able to get the best grades in their school work. When he was drunk, and even sometimes when he was sober, he would just hit them for the pleasure of it. Coach Smith was careful though to make sure he hit them where the marks could be covered and very hard to see. Occasionally when in his worse drunken states, marks did show up clearly and in obvious places meaning that whilst at school both Eiji and himself had to make up excuses.

After losing the battle to try and get more sleep in what still felt like an unfamiliar bed for another 20 minutes, Fuji decided that it was time to get up. Rolling up the blind in the window next to the bed, Fuji peered out. 'No snow, there wasn't any snow last year in Japan either.' Thinking of Japan Fuji slumped back on the wall which the end of the bed rested on. The double bunk bed only just fit in the room with little space either side of the bed; only 1 or 2 cm at most. 'Yuuta should be home from St Rudolph's for Christmas, or did he decide to stay on over the holidays?' Fuji wondered to himself. He wished he knew but there was no way to get in contact with his family. All phones were behind locked doors, they never had any money given to them so letters were not an option, and Coach Smith had somehow managed to get the school to block any emails that they would send claiming 'I would like to read them first, to make sure that they don't trouble anyone back in Japan with their things about their family.' Just remembering that statement made Fuji mad; they never had any time to do any trouble making of any sort because they worked all the way through their frees, played tennis during the lunch hour and had to complete all home work at school if possible because if it need the internet Coach Smith wasn't going to let them touch his computer which was 'safely' locked away in the study.

Fuji changed into some comfortable clothes from his chest of drawers before leaving the room. His thoughts were still on Yuuta and his family, wondering how they were coping with dealing with his kidnapping. There was nothing he or Eiji could do though, as Coach Smith constantly reminded them, Momo was at the cabin and his life was in danger if they fought back or rebelled. There was no way they could sneak back to Japan with the fake passports because once again it came down to money and Coach Smith kept every piece of false document which he created on them and this elaborate story locked away in his study. Well there was two good things about today; no Coach Smith and Fuji and Eiji could speak in their own mother tongue. It was always English around the elder man, a beating for every time he heard a word of Japanese which made the talks between Eiji and Fuji at night interesting and quiet because it was one of the only times that they could speak in what was regarded by Coach Smith as the forbidden language.

As he thought he would Fuji found Eiji in the kitchen, leaning on the island counter in the middle of what was a fairly big open plan kitchen dinning space. It was modern built and clearly up to date with everything. Black glittery marble top surfaces lined the top of the counters which ran around half the room, and the island in the middle of the kitchen. White gloss painted counters ran underneath the marble surface, which according Eiji was a pain to keep clean. Floor level lighting ran along the ground with spotlights under all the counters. There was a built in oven (the fridge and freezer were also built into the cupboards) but also there was an agar in what would have been the main kitchen fireplace of the old which had been built around the late 19th century. A butler sink was situated besides the long window staring out into the back garden with the path that lead to the tennis court. The walls and floors were tilted in a sandy coloured marble stone. It was a very expensive fitted kitchen from anyone's view. If the school saw this they would know instantly that Coach Smith earned more than he said, but schools in England weren't allowed to pay home visits without forewarning the guardian or parent and only in the rarest of events. It almost always done on the school grounds for government reasoning. The dining part of the open planned living was just as expensive with a glass toped table and tall long back white leather chairs. Paintings by American artists lined the walls. Fuji was always surprised by the fact that Coach Smith had broken the glass table by now.

"Sa, Eiji, what are you doing?" He asked; there was no smile on his face today. He didn't feel like putting up a facade around someone who could see straight through it unlike at school. The acrobatic player was startled from his position of where he had been leaning on the counter; he had been clearly somewhere else. Fuji could have a good guess of where it had been. Home would be a tender topic today and probably would be discussed much later between the two of them when they felt like it.

"Nya. Don't make me jump like that Fujiko." Eiji always referred to Fuji with his nickname when speaking in Japanese, either that or normal Fuji. The tensai supposed it was Eiji's way of holding on tightly to a slowly disappearing link with their past. "Anyway, Coach Smith didn't go out shopping like I asked him to so we don't have much to eat today and it won't be a Christmas lunch" Eiji said, the apology clear in the tone as the red head was rummaging through the fridge now. Fuji didn't make a word, knowing that Eiji would carry on. "So, because you slept much later. I'm thinking a cheese and bacon omelette with baked beans for a meal in between breakfast and lunch. Oh what do the English call it …" Eiji asked, tapping his lips with his right index finger.

"A brunch?" Fuji said, he had heard the phrase before but it was a difficult word to pronounce. It had taken him quite a few tries to get it going, the pronunciation still wasn't right.

"Hoi, one of those and then later I'll make us some spaghetti bolognaise with the left over mince that wasn't used last weekend." Eiji looked up at Fuji. "It's not going to be a very Christmas lunch feel" he said sadly and Fuji knelt down besides the boy, placing his hand on Eiji's shoulder.

"Happy Christmas Eiji" he said a sad smile appearing on his face, as a way of saying it was okay that it wouldn't be.

"Merry Christmas Fuji" Eiji said before grabbing the cheese and leftover bacon from the fridge and standing upright. Fuji also stood up, thinking to himself before turning to leave the room.

"I'm going to get my camera Eiji" he said before completely leaving the room. His project in photography was on people and seeing as his only model really back at this house was Eiji it often focused around him cooking. There were a few tennis shots, mainly taken at the school. Fuji hated to admit it but his and Eiji's skills had got much better in leaps and bounds since this deathly training had started but he would never say that out loud. Never. As Fuji reached for his camera which was on his desk, there was a loud clatter from the kitchen. Fuji stopped mid-reach. Hurrying back out to the top of the stairs, Fuji called out Eiji's name as he raced towards the kitchen, the camera forgotten about.

Reaching the kitchen doorway Fuji tried looking for Eiji, and found him on the floor, holding his head, eyes closed tightly; two pans were some distance in one direction. 'That must have been the noise I heard' Fuji thought as he knelt down besides the red head, lifting him up to sloped sitting position with Eiji's head resting on his right arm, the left arm was snaked around Eiji. It was shaking violently.

"Eiji, look at me. Open your eyes please" Eiji only gave a moan in response. "Eiji, please open your eyes for me" Fuji begged. Two deep blue eyes slowly flickered open, the pupils were dilating and expanding like mad, like Eiji couldn't focus.  
"Nya, Fujiko." Came a weak whisper, "my head hurts" Fuji nodded as Eiji's hands collapsed from their position of holding his head to hanging limply like it was too much energy to keep them there any longer, slowly those blue eyes started to close again  
"No Eiji, keep them open for me please. Keep them open." No matter how hard he begged, Eiji wouldn't respond in way, shape or form, not even with a moan. Fuji was panicking for probably one of the few times of his life, holding Eiji close, encouraging him to respond. He didn't know to do …

* * *

**Yeah, dramatic cliff hanger! And your going to have to wait to find out what happens. Eiji has something deadly serious ...**  
**Also someone very important has to pop up in this story before it starts conculding ... I wonder if you can guess who it is ...**

**demoncat13: That means you won't be able to dig your claws in Saotome (that was not meant as a pun on your username by the way, it just came out like that). I noticed you didn't say anything Saotome loosing his memories ...**  
**eijikikumarufan01: Yeah, closing of the case, no new lead for months, they will have to use their resources somewhere else. I'm glad I got a emotional response to the last chapter. Like I said, someone important has to pop up first before anything can start conculding, if Eiji survives that is ... its very serious what Eiji has and he does need to get to a hospital as soon as possible. As for popping up, you will be back in the story sometime, not big parts but you will be there. **

**Reviews please ... you may not like me for the ending of this chapter but you can say that in the review (just no flaming ... grrr)**


	22. Chapter 22

Beep … beep … beep … beep …

It was steady noise in the background reminding him of where he was, of why he was here. A cool large hand on his back, another one pushing him back so his back was straight; had he been leaning on something? An arm slipped under his knees and he was being lifted up against a solid body. Before he didn't struggle because it had been a comforting touch, soft and gentle but now he began. He felt an urgency to get back to the position he had been in before. There was a soft deep chuckle as he tried opening his eyes, blinking to the bright lights of the room closing them quickly again.

"I wasn't trying to kidnap you", it was a man's voice, surprisingly enough said in Japanese. "I was going to bring you over to the other bed; you didn't look like you were in a comfortable position. I'm sure there's enough on your father's plate for him to worry about." Slowly he was let down to stand on his own two feet; although his legs wobbled madly. There was still a hand on his back to keep him steady as the shaking stopped and he finally opened his eyes again getting used to the light.

"My father?" he asked disbelieving. "He's here?" Looking around the room, it was a large room with whitewashed walls and a green plastic floor. There were two beds in the room, one of which was occupied. The moment Fuji set eyes on the occupant, everything snapped into place.

"Oh he was here. He said he couldn't bear to be here for long because he hated hospitals." Fuji looked over at the man who still had his hand on his back. He was dressed in a white coat, with pens sticking out of his pocket. Dark skinned he and wore a comforting smile.

"He's not our father; he's our uncle" Fuji whispered, his shoulders sagging as he retook the position he had been before the doctor had come and tried moving him. It wasn't the doctor's fault that Fuji had got his hopes up it was his father from Japan and everything had been a fragment of his imagination. It looked like it was night time outside the window that was situated in the middle of the wall. Before him on the bed lay the familiar red head very lifeless and still, an oxygen mask fixed over his mouth and nose, wires linking his body to machines, and an IV line had been put in. There was a bandage wrapped around the left hand side of Eiji's head, his eyes were still closed.

It had felt like years ago since Fuji had heard the clatter from the kitchen and rushed down to see Eiji on the floor in pain; whilst in fact it had only been this morning. It had been luck that Smith had decided to return early but it had pained Fuji that he had to convince Coach Smith that he would loose a tennis player that he had trained if they didn't take Eiji to the hospital. That's all Coach Smith cared about; training them to become professional tennis players, not caring about their wellbeing.

"The surgery was a success," said the doctor from behind Fuji. The tensai had hold Eiji's left hand in his right, stroking the back gently, running his finger over the IV line time and time again. "I'm Doctor Fraser" the man said, "Your brother will be alright." Fuji jerked slightly when he realised the doctor behind was speaking in Japanese and not in English, that why he was able to understand the man so clearly.

"Are you Japanese?" he asked in disbelief, looking at the man. The doctor shook his head.

"No, I learnt Japanese when I was much younger and was employed mainly on the fact we have quite a large Japanese community here in Lincolnshire, so I deal with mainly the Japanese children when they come in here."

"How did you know we were Japanese?"

"When you feel asleep one of the nurses heard you and came and informed me, so the other doctor who was looking after your brother and I swapped patients." The man gave a smile, to which Fuji replied with a weak smile in return. It had felt like it had been a long wait for Eiji to come out of surgery; rushed in as soon as they had managed to get what Fuji had seen out of him.

"What's wrong with him?" Fuji asked his voice cracking. The fear that he had felt through the day was only just starting to ebb away, Eiji was safe now.

"It seems he has something called hydrocephalus, although we did an ultrasound test to make sure, the results should be arriving sometime."

"Excuse me?" Fuji asked confused, the word had sounded like it had just been made up.

"Hydrocephalus; it's where an excess amount of fluid builds up in the gap between the skull and the brain, putting pressure on the brain which lead to him having collapsing and having a serve headache, loss of vision becoming blurred, the reason why his eyes were dilating. It's often something that is present from birth and manifests itself later in life, often leaving many people with a restricted lifestyle of it having to be monitored all the time. Your brother was brought in just in time, possibly given 10 minutes more and he would have visible brain damage." Fuji gave a worried glance back at Eiji; would his tennis be affected by that? And what would happen if it was, would Coach Smith just get rid of him?

"Visible brain damage?" Fuji whispered more to himself that meant Eiji could have brain damage anyway.

The doctor placed a hand upon Fuji's left shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "We had to drain a lot of fluid, even more than the excess which is why he is on an IV, but I heard from something from the person doing the ultrasound on your brother whilst talking to him." Fuji looked at the doctor, blue eyes gleaning under the white hospital light. "Don't get your hopes up, but it's possible that it could be a temporary thing that has just randomly occurred. Hydrocephalus has been known to do that to a few people. The ultrasound test should be able to show if it is or isn't."

"If he does have it, wo… wou… would he still be able to play tennis?" Fuji stuttered, why did it have to happen today? Why did this ever happen? This Christmas Eiji and himself should have been at home, enjoying being with their families, enjoying being around their friends. Not stuck in a hospital, trapped because if they tried to escape Smith could hurt them, or even have Momo hurt. If they told someone at the school they could be hurt. Smith once told them if he lost in contact with Saotome for more than the scheduled time; the other would seriously hurt Momo, possibly even kill him. The man shook his head softly.

"It would be very unlikely that he would be able to but we should have the ultrasound tests back very soon. Your brother has been listed as priority and therefore we should have a quite a few people pouring over it to make sure. As for brain damage … we will have to see when he wakes up but the hospital has allowed for you to stay with him, it's often found in twins that somehow that encourages some positive activity." Fuji's head dropped slightly, trying to process all this information was like trying to eat a mountain and he almost scoffed at the twin's part. He couldn't tell this man anything, he couldn't tell anyone anything about their past.

There was a soft squeeze on his hand, it was weak but it was a grip. Fuji twisted his head right, a genuine smile spreading across his face as a pair of blue eyes looked back at him blinking. In that moment Fuji just forgot everything, only grateful that Eiji was there and still alive.

"Well like they say, speak of the devil and he shall appear or rather in this case awake." The doctor's voice brought Fuji snapping back to reality. He watched as the man walked around the side of the bed with that big smile back on his face. "Expect this is cheating because I was about to go and get your results, I wanted to get them done first." He joked, removing the oxygen mask and placing it on the desk on the right hand side of the bed. Out of the pockets in the coat came a small torch light which Doctor Fraser twisted on and moved from side to side in front of Eiji's eyes and back and forth. "Now mister, do you remember you name to begin with?"  
"Ei… Eiji" the red head choked out after a small stutter.

"That's always a good sign. My wife loves that name; she would love me for ever if I agreed to name one of our children that and probably spoil the child rotten."

"Your child?" Eiji's voice was not more than a whisper as the doctor moved down to Eiji's hand, holding it.

"Yes, she's expecting our first. Had the first ultrasound only a couple of weeks ago, healthy twins they are saying, nothing wrong with them. Hope they grow up as close as you two are. Now can you squeeze your hand?" Fuji turned a slight colour of pink but kept his gaze on the doctor. "Great, that's fantastic, let's move on to your feet. You're not ticklish are you? " Eiji shook his head, a smile spreading across his face as the blanket was pushed back. Fuji could understand why, this kind of doctor couldn't help but make you smile and there was no Coach Smith to ruin the moment. "Good, I hope you washed these well enough." Doctor Fraser bent down, "wiggle those toes for me, good man." Fuji watched as the doctor touched the bottom of Eiji's right foot, to which it there was a simple jerk. The doctor stood up, holding his nose. "Poof, those stink" he said waving his other hand in front of his nose. Eiji gave a weak chuckle. Somehow Doctor Fraser placed the blanket back covering his feet still holding his nose. "Now, I'm going to get your results, so don't you move mister. I'm also going to get some lovely air freshener, cheesy feet!" the man joked as he walked from the room.

Fuji used his hand to cover his mouth, as he gave a small laugh. It had felt a long time since he had managed to feel this good.

"Nya, he's nice." Came a weak voice from the top end of the bed. Fuji looked back at Eiji and nodded, still holding on to his right hand. It had been very nice to be able to talk to someone in Japanese and laugh at the same time, the translators in the school didn't hold that quality.  
"How do you feel Eiji?"

"Sore, and really tired" Fuji nodded his head, going back to stroking Eiji's hand."What happened?" Fuji looked away trying to think on how to word what happened without panicking again.

"Erm…"

"You mister Eiji, decided it was going to be a good idea to go and give yourself a temporary hydrocephalus case." Doctor Fraser had returned, saving Fuji from answering. "You're lucky your brother found you, nor has he left your side since you came out of surgery." Fuji looked down at his hand.

"What's a hydroce… hydroce ...?"

"Hydrocephalus? It means you had way too much fluid in between the bit between your skull and your brain. It also means you've just landed yourself in hospital for one or two weeks, meaning your spending the rest of Christmas Day and New Year's here. Sorry but I'll see how long I can get your brother to be able to stay with you. He already claimed the bed next to you for tonight." The last part was done in a stage whisper and Fuji felt his hand being squeezed again. "Brain damage is zilch, I can successfully say but you've probably given your brother and uncle a few grey hairs." Fuji felt his hand being squeezed tightly and gently squeezed it back. "Well, it's pretty late at night and you probably should be asleep Eiji, I'll leave you to get to sleep on your own but don't be afraid to call me." As the man left he looked at Fuji with a bright smile. "Oh and sorry but I can't find the air freshener so your going to have to cope with his cheesy feet for a while." Fuji gave a small laugh looking fondly back at Eiji.

"Don't ever do that to me again Eiji"

"Nya, gomen" Eiji said his eyes closing.

"Get some sleep Eiji, we can talk more when you're rested."  
"Hoi" was the last word as the acrobatic tennis player drifted off into the darkness of sleep; leaving Fuji to grasp how lucky he was to still have Eiji there.

* * *

**I decided to do an Eiji and Fuji chapter because I did leave the last chapter on a really big evil cliffhanger. **  
**I didn't make hydrocephalus up; it is a real illness and not very well understood. However I did alter it slightly so Eiji does have it temporarily but it can cause brain damage and even death in the most exterme cases. It can be seen in young child but sometimes it doesn't manifest itself until much later. I don't know much about the illness apart from what I read on the internet. **

**Eijikikumarufan01: Gomen for leaving the chapter on a cliffhanger. As for the important person, its not going to be someone I make up ... Smith did take Eiji to the hospital, after being reminded that he was training Eiji and could lose a potential pro. I hope you managed to get your homework done and not think about this too much... **  
**demoncat13: I don't think Scotland Yard would know about the disappearance ... interpol yes but probably not scotland yard and there we go Eiji is alive!**  
**silver starlight serpant: Welcome and like I said in the reply, Fuji and Eiji are literally trapped in that house with what they think is Momo's life hanging by a thread. They don't know Momo has been rescued.**

**REVIEWS PLEASE! I did this chapter because the last was a really evil chapter ...**


	23. Chapter 23

It had been a dull unsteady pace, people had tiptoed around him; not that he had noticed. There had been whispers which he had heard but not registered. It was almost like he had given up; given up on everything that had been done because in the end it didn't matter. It all proved fruitless in the end, nothing had worked. Achievements and downfalls, in the past and what should have been the future; where did they stand now? Gossips spread; people licked them up like they were dogs taking a drink of water, ideas were blown out of proportion, each word was studied in great depth. There had hisses through the crackling of the radio of death approaching on the doorstep, mourning sorrows passed through lips that didn't really care into the microphone, and broadcasting to the rest of Japan the lies which were written on the newspaper before them before obtaining a cheerful tone as they moved on to the next piece of news. It felt like he had been cut loose from the rest of the world and was floating alone, a machine unable to understand how to feel and what to feel, how to act. This resulted in days of lying on the bed, staring into the nothingness. People had tried to stimulate him into action, to do something but their results had availed to nothing. They had left him alone for a while after that, and he thought he would not see any more attempts. He had failed, simple as. He had given himself a task and a promise, and he had failed. He thought they understood; so how did it come to this?

New Year's Eve and he had thought that he would be on his own; his family would be downstairs talking about what to do, trying to celebrate. Instead, they had managed to get him out of bed, dressed in causal clothes and into the car. It had shocked Oishi out of the deprived state he had been in, curious questions forming in his mind, something different was happening and it was unexplainable. Upon asking where he was going; which had been the first sentence he had spoken since that phone call on Christmas Day 6 days ago, there was no answer.

It was an unfamiliar route his father was taking and one that thoroughly confused Oishi, his father still refusing to answer his questions. The only way Oishi could describe the look on his father's face was that of determination, and maybe a bit of fear. Oishi sighed and looked outside again, wondering once again what was going on and where he was going. Glancing at the clock on the radio, he frowned. It was getting on nine o'clock at night, why would his father be taking him somewhere this late on New Year's Eve?

All questions must be answered and it didn't take long for the question of where they were going to be answered. With a question glance at his father, Oishi looked at the house where the car had drawn up in front. What was going at Tezuka's house? His father treated him almost like a child, or a delicate piece of art, as he disappeared around to the boot, picking up something and leading Oishi to the house. The elder man knocked on the door; when it was revealed that Oishi was too much in a state of confusion to do it. Expecting Tezuka's parents to answer Oishi almost fell over in shock when the stern faced bucho stood there instead.

"Take your things upstairs, second door on the right." Was all he said in the way of greeting, the typical Tezuka way of getting straight to the point.

"My things?" Oishi questioned a quiver to his voice from the revelation of what was going in front of him. He blinked and shook his head when his father nudged him, placing the handles of two bags on his left hand. With that the elder man left, waving and disappearing out of sight in the car. Oishi just stared and wondered. It was only upon hearing Tezuka's feet going down the hallway that Oishi came back to the real world.

Frowning he walked up the stairs and opened the instructed door. Inside there were several other bags, some sleeping bags by the looks of it and others were just normal bags, like he had in his hand. Placing his bags down, he backed out of the room and to the top of the stairwell. From there he could hear bickering from one of the rooms below. Oishi hadn't been to Tezuka's house very often, although in the same class and being captain and vice-captain of the same team, the captain preferred to do his work at school and very rarely tended to be sick so thus no one really had reason to come around to his house. He however know the way to the living room and he knew for a fact that the voices were definitely coming from there. As he walked down he noticed the door was open and he could hear the voices more clearly now and was able understand every word.

"Mamushi! You're sitting on my leg"

"Baka, I'm nowhere near your leg."

"You call that no where near my leg?"  
"Momoshiro! Kaidoh!" Deathly silence could be heard, so much that a pin could have dropped from a short distance from the floor and still be heard. 'Well it identifies two other people here other than Tezuka and myself' Oishi thought as he stepped into the living room. Kaidoh was standing on one side of the room; with Momo on the sofa rubbing his right leg. The ruffian was taking up a majority of the sofa, although no one else seemed to be complaining. From the doorway of the living room Oishi startled himself by looking straight at Inui who was holding a glass of mixed purple and red juice. Oishi decided he defiantly didn't want to try what ever that was.

"Che mada mada dane" came a voice from Oishi's left, making the man jump violently.

"Echizen" he said, running a hand through his hair.

"Oishi, are you okay?" Oishi blinked when he was suddenly staring at Kawamura. He took a step back holding his hand out.

"Oishi-sempai maybe you should sit down, you look a little pale." Oishi couldn't tell whom that had come from as he was lead to the sofa and sat down next to Momo. When he finally came out of the confusion he noticed Tezuka standing at the entrance to what he presumed to be the kitchen.

"Does anyone know what's going on?" he asked, looking mainly at Tezuka. It was his house after all.

"We were hoping you could tell us that Oishi-sempai" Echizen perked up from where he had been drinking a can of ponta and leaning against the wall.

"My father just brought me here" Oishi offered in way of explanation of what he knew of the situation.

"Pretty much the same with all of us" Momo perked up from Oishi's left. There was an awkward silence after that.

Oishi kept on expecting Eiji to pop out of nowhere with Daigoro held tightly in his arms and Fuji to follow with that all knowing smile on his face and then for the red head to complain about how silent it was. Yet there was no Eiji to pop out of nowhere and there was no Fuji to follow, Eiji was always the ice breaker and Fuji was the follow up. Looking around the room Oishi could see that most of the regulars were also probably thinking about the two missing members, with Tezuka he just couldn't tell, probably never would.

"Did …" Oishi tried to start, but trailed off half way through the word. There was a sudden shift in eyes towards him. He gulped, rubbing the back of his head trying not to meet their gaze. His knees were suddenly so much more interesting. "Did anyone else get that phone call?" he couldn't bring himself to say the subject of the phone call but it didn't really matter, the others in the room caught on with what he was saying.

"We will find them Oishi" Kawamura was saying more to himself, it sounded like he was trying to reassure himself and Oishi at the same time.

"Although there is a high probability chance of 98% that we will never find them, there is a 100% chance rate that we will not give up." Inui supplied from his part of the room.

"When I get that guy I'm going to bust his chops in!" Momo said fiercely, punching the air in front of him, imaging that guy whoever took Eiji and Fuji was there. His whole body lurched forwards and he unnecessarily twisted his calf by accident. "Itte" the ruffian hissed.

"Baka, you can't even move properly yet." Kaidoh aimed at Momo

"What was that Mamushi?" Momo challenged trying to rise from the sofa to which Oishi started flapping his hands to get Momo to relax again.

"Fhsuuuu"

"Momoshiro! Kaidoh!"

"Hai!" they both said startled out of their bickering by the sudden intervention of their captain.

"Che" was all Echizen said.

"Oishi" Tezuka said in the same tone as he had done to Momo and Kaidoh. Oishi looked startled.

"Hai Tezuka?" He asked softly.

"We will find them but in the mean time don't let your guard down." There was silence in the room following that statement and Oishi started to understand why they had been brought together, not who had brought them together yet, but why. To give them back hope by supporting one another, that although the police had to give up, they couldn't afford to give up hope on Fuji and Eiji or they really would be gone.

* * *

**She said to herself, it would be done between 30,000 and 40,000 words ... she meant to only have a 10,000 word story ... che ... nya never mind. I need to get some sleep so I can rise tomorrow and have some breakfast from the canteen ... but I could never end my day (or my morning in this case) without a new update for the story!**

**demoncat13: wrong type of case for Scotland yard to get involved in, don't think they deal with international cases. Yes Eiji lives ... just**  
**eijikikumarufan01: You didn't make me have to write it, I was going to write it anyway. As for the doctors in England, we get free health care and I made the hospital nicer than what it really is, Fuji wouldn't have been allowed to stay in reality. Eiji was also lucky to get a nice doctor, but you find more nice doctors on children's wards. And Smith is always a heartless jerk! I also have a confession, in one of my chapters I put Eiji saying "let me protect you this time" and when I reread your 'vacation gone wrong' story, I realised I had actually (not on purpose!) taken it from your story. Sorry! I didn't realise ... but it shows how much of a brilliant story it is. **

**Reviews please! They are a nice way to encourage me in writing and I like reading them. **


	24. Chapter 24

As weird as it sounded; he really didn't want to leave the hospital, he just wanted to stay there forever. It was safe, warming and comforting. He could laugh there and not have to worry about looking after people. Sure the lies still remained but that was it, the pleasure of being away from that man. It could have been better if Fuji was allowed to stay for longer; Doctor Fraser had only managed to squeeze 4 or 5 days out of the hospital to allow him to stay. It had also brought some strength back into him just being able to lay there without any worries in the world. There was only one major problem now; Eiji was worried about his missing 'twin'. Fuji hadn't been for the last couple of days, 3 to be exact and if Coach Smith had anything to do with it, it would never be a good result.

Eiji really hoped Coach Smith had done anything to Fuji like he had done to Eiji during that week when Fuji was still stuck with fever. He shuddered visibly at the memories which flooded his mind. Eiji had learnt the meaning of that tight cupboard space very quickly. It was an avid memory that came clearly back to him in a flash when he started thinking about it. He had wanted to care for Fuji after a particularly bad night during the course of his fever; Eiji had managed to get no sleep on that night. He had quickly clicked on that for Coach Smith that it was an impossible idea and out of question that he should be allowed to skip the all important tennis practice. His game had slipped with the lack of sleep and he had been beaten to what felt like a pulp for both asking if he could skip tennis that day and missing a few balls. After that there had been a blur, he couldn't remember if he had seen Fuji after tennis practice or not, but the next clear thing was that cold small area after being chucked in.

A tall box space; where your knees are bent to try and stay upright, there is no space to turn and sit on the ground. No space to pull up the arms and push at the door, arms are too long. No heating and there is a draft blowing through, several shivers within a period of a couple of seconds was not uncommon when you heard the owls hooting outside. No light creeps through the wooden door and the door is rough on the inside, between that and the rough brick work where its not been wallpapered or even plastered is that cramped tiny space. Sometimes it floods; it flooded on the first night Eiji had been there, water seeps in through the brickwork and soaks up the bare back, leaving that tingling cold feeling. Coach Smith never allows you to have a polo shirt on whilst in there; complains it's a waste of time and money to clean afterwards. Fears enhance themselves and float around, even fears that were forgotten about or thought conquered become all powerful in the cupboard. After being released from the box spaced cupboard, the knees are unable to support themselves any longer so they crash to the floor. It gives Smith another reason to beat with a tennis racket he may have just bought or an old thing he found lying around in his stuff which he had brought over from his American house. He claims he doesn't want to go back there in the near future. The arms won't respond, due to hanging all night in one position, swinging them in the dark only results in using precious energy which should be supplied to keeping warm and keeping the knees up. The back, which is covered in cuts and bruises from the tennis racket, will have infected areas due to the cold rain water crawling down the back. How much time is spent in there is unclear, it's never given. 'It' irrelevant' to quote Coach Smith, not that it matters, there is still another day of training to go before attending to Fuji's needs and cooking a meal for Coach Smith. And all the while, there is that lingering threat of harm to Momo hanging in the air overhead, a constant warning, a constant reminder.

Attending school only made it slightly better, no tennis training all day. Just three days after school and during sports sessions unless it was a match day, the rest of the time was filled up with lessons, a chance to enjoy a subject that wasn't totally sport related. Form time was a time when both Fuji and Eiji could chat without worries until the translators came or the form teacher turned up. When they got home it was a hectic schedule still; any homework they had left over from their time in the library, working on the computers they did. It was often a study of English or reading books and making notes. Dinner always had to be made and tennis practice had to be done with Coach Smith. Just because it was a weekday didn't mean Coach Smith was any less reluctant to beat them or lock them in the cupboard for the night.

'Life under Coach Smith's rule is not fair; it's not easy but its several steps away from that cabin and Coach Saotome. I hope Momo is safe.' Eiji thought to himself as he waited in the wheelchair for the car Coach Smith drove to come around. He was being discharged today with Doctor Fraser saying that he was to take it easy for another week, even with school starting in two days.

"Which means you lucky soul, no school however I'm sure your brother will take great delight in bring you back the homework. Just make sure you wash those feet before he gets home." Eiji gave a short smile, it had become a usual banter between Eiji and Doctor Fraser to talk about his 'smelly feet', one supporting the argument that they weren't smelly and the supporting the argument that they indeed where smelly and he would have to ask the nurse to spray air freshener in the room before he stepped in. The man had actually taken to the habit of carrying an air freshener can, which Eiji knew was empty but it made great amusement.

As the modern black saloon Volvo car drew up in front of the hospital, Fuji got out from the left hand side back seat door. Fuji walked over to the doctor and Eiji and smiled what Eiji could immediately recognize as a fake smile, at the elder man, purposely trying to avoid contact with Eiji.

"I hope my brother behaved himself in your company." Fuji said in what sounded like a mono-tone voice.

"Your brother was one of my best patients. Never had so much fun, apart from with my wife but I only say that because if I don't she'll somehow find out and kill me later. Women have this scary habit of knowing what their husbands are saying." Doctor Fraser smiled back. "Is your uncle not getting out of the car?"

"He really dislikes hospitals" Fuji said shaking his head.

"Okay, I'll tell you and hope you can convey it onto your uncle about what Eiji needs." Pulling out four small black cases which were about ten centimetres long and five in depth giving them to Fuji, "Your uncle already signed for these when he came in a couple of days ago to take you home but in there are what you could call a diabetes type of pen and two spare cartridges with it, the pen is already loaded with one. One for is for him to carry around, I suggest you carry around one and then decide what to do with the other two. Encase something like this happens again, the medicine inside this pen will be able to break down the excess fluid and take it to an escape route kind of thing if you insert it here in between the neck and the shoulder." With delicate fingers Doctor Fraser moved Eiji's hair and placed a finger on the point where it needed to go. "I'll need to see Eiji again for a check up in about four to five months and we will send a letter to organize that but apart from that everything should be fine. Oh and …" the elder man fished out the empty air freshener can from his pocket, "this is for when ever you get too much of his cheesy feet."

"They're not smelly!" Eiji interjected, snapping back from what he had been doing.

"Right … I'll believe you … not" Doctor Fraser said with a great big grin on his face.

Eiji had been taking the time in which Doctor Fraser and Fuji had been discussing his medicine, to study the boy whom he hadn't seen in a while. A pale face, Fuji's right hand was shaking only slightly and then when they had the cases in it, tightly gripping them until his hand turned white. It was then Eiji saw several scrape marks, made what could only be done on a tennis court. Fuji was wearing a long sleeved top, but Eiji from his sitting position could see several markings up the arm. And he was sure his eye sight wasn't tricking him when he thought Fuji just looked slightly thinner. It was then he was jerked back to reality by Doctor Fraser's comment. After replying, it was time to go back to that man. Eiji really didn't want to go. He would rather have the hospital, Doctor Fraser and Fuji any day of the week. It was almost like a parting gift when Doctor Fraser helped Eiji into the car, not that he really needed it but it was hospital policy with children who had the same kind of thing Eiji had to have accompany from the wheelchair to the car. Fuji got into the other side of the car as Doctor Fraser closed the door, the kind Doctor waving goodbye by sticking his tongue out and having his thumbs in his ears so his hands were waving backwards and forwards. It took all Eiji's might not to laugh. Turning back he looked at Fuji and touched his arm briefly, not wanting to speak in Coach Smith's presence. Fuji just looked out of the window away from Eiji.

"You better rest well boy because your game better not have slipped by the end of this week." Coach Smith hissed from the front of the car. The man seemed angry and very agitated, and it seemed very much aimed at Fuji for some reason Eiji couldn't understand.

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**I would love to have a Doctor Fraser as my doctor or as my uncle (I love my daddy too much to say I want to replace him) but now Eiji is going back ... and what is wrong with Fuji? I don't know and I'm writing this story!**

**demoncat13: Renji popping up out of nowhere would be just very random ... and a good comcial situtation if I want one. *is now imaging Renji popping up out of nowhere saying "hello, I am Lindsay Lohan'* I watch way too much Jeff Dunham ... That would just be scary for Renji to say that ...**  
**ElementalCat: Ah! New reviewer! Hello there! I'm gald I made your morning, hopefully I can make your morning again with this chapter. **  
**pot princess: I never meant for there to be any yaoi in this story, its purely friendship. I don't think there is enough friendship fics here on POT. Sorry**  
**walaakongkwenta: Ah, that gave me relief that you hating me is a good thing. Nearly gave me a heart attack in the middle of reading it, and I'm not working myself to death. I've already worked myself to death, I am currently writing this from beyond the grave. Yeah the cactus thing, don't think School would be too impressed with a person bring what could be a weapon to school and its easier to buy books. I might do a one-shot when I am done with this story of Christmas Eve and Fuji and Eiji thinking/talking about what they would like to give to the other person but can't, or you could do one, I really don't mind. Its a possible might. I already another possible one shot of Saotome dairy and as time progresses, just so some people can sink their teeth into him and tear him apart. As for putting them in one room, blame the parents not me! The parents decided on that ... I had nothing to do with it ... well apart from that I wrote it ...**

**REVIEWIES PWEASIE! **


	25. Chapter 25

Seigaku never played in any other official and public tournament after the under 17 tournament had been cancelled during that school year. There were many rumours spread around and although schools invited Seigaku to come and play with them, very few of those invitations were accepted. Some people gossiped that the stress of exams had got to them; others whispered that after the disappearance and injury of three of their nine regulars the team was never the same in the Seigaku spirit and just couldn't handle the pressure of the real world. However many others observed that other schools, although enemy in spirit, rallied round, deflect all the harsh blows of gossip that would have damaged and possibly even destroyed the members of the Seigaku team. Refusing to answer any questions, it had been said that Hyoutei's tennis team was always on the look out for any reporters that possible would take one of these rumours and blow it out of proportion. People hissed that the captain was the one that had taken charge of the media, and although some slipped by his fingers, very few escaped it. They had done it three times; the first time when the remainder of the Seigaku regulars had returned to school for the first, the second when Momoshiro had been allowed to go back to school for the first time and the third was after they returned to school after the news had broke the case had been closed. It was amazing what the reporters thought they could get away with when the young men weren't under the protection of their parents. The only magazine that wasn't doing anything about it was 'Tennis Monthly Pro' and that was because Shiba and Inoue had managed to convince the editor not to do anything out of respect and understanding of young boys wanting to be left alone.

Naturally all the media went to try at all the other schools, especially St Rudolph's. The group that went to try and capture Fuji Yuuta to get an interview out of him, or even a reaction of some kind which they use in a scandalous way, had met Mizuki instead. He had delightfully told them a set of directions to the dorms, a long set of directions and he also gave them wrong directions, seeing as the building he just walked out of was the boy's dorms. When they returned to their respective stations or newspapers, all they had to report was that the St Rudolph's grounds was very large, very beautiful and very easy to get lost in. Shitenhouji's group of reporters had come back looking like they had been blown through the eye of a tornado; claiming they never wanted to see another certain freshman tennis player in their life. The group of reporters that went to Rikkaidai however weren't seen until two days later; where they had mysteriously turned up in hospital and refused to talk about what they had seen. Curiously enough they quit the sports journalism side of things and turned to other simple jobs, like working on other sectors or even just left the media side altogether. It was rumoured that the security industry took a great deal of interest after that in Rikkaidi's tennis team and there had been a few job offers to the 3rd years of the team. Although they walked away empty handed, empty bruised handed …

Exam time came and passed swiftly for the third years of the Seigaku tennis club and Ryuzaki was finding herself looking at the new leading list for what would be the management team who would be working with her on the tennis team. It was unsurprising to see that Kaidoh had been listed as the potential captain of the next year. Her finger hovered over the titles underneath it. With a long sigh, she turned and looked outside at the tennis courts briefly. It was during the lunch period and the girls had control over the courts for that moment and so therefore were practicing. Although Ryuzaki sensei was not in charge of that group she still liked to watch her granddaughter practicing with those stupid long plaits of hers. Although it did amuse her at night to watch the girl twiddling them with her right hand, pen tapping against her homework, probably thinking about a certain boy. A voice from the door disturbed her from her daydreaming.

"Ryuzaki sensei," the elder woman nearly blanched at being caught off guard by the current captain of the boys' tennis team. Did the guy ever make a sound when entering a room? She turned and looked at Tezuka, giving him a nod in acknowledgement.

"Are you certain with these arrangements? It's rare to find two in one group." She said looking at the sheet once again to confirm what she was saying.

"Kaidoh was always the right type to be able to lead the tennis team; Momoshiro needs someone to check on him and to keep him in line. Echizen would not have enough leadership experience to be able to lead the tennis team, even though he is the strongest tennis player."

"Ah Echizen" Ryuzaki said to herself. That boy was certainly changed, well in terms of academics at least. His tennis play was always improving rapidly, but his academics had shocked teachers. Within the space of a few months his grades had been pulled up further than what was regarded as brilliant within the first year. As what she had heard from within the teacher's lounge, because she didn't take him for Mathematics, all the talk in the first year teachers was about the brilliance of this young boy and why didn't he show his brilliance before. It had always been amusing to see a bunch of teachers storm towards the head teacher's office, two or three weeks before the Christmas holidays demanding that he be allowed to study for second year exams as well. The rule was set that if he could pass both first and second year exams, he would be allowed to skip the second year completely. So thus when the exam period started the boy had done both the first year and the second year exams, much to Momo's and Kaidoh's shock when the boy had turned up at the same time when he had an exam. They had actually stopped fighting and didn't pick their bickering until the end of the day, finding something else which was trivial in the large prospects of the world. 'Be careful Sakuno; your going to lose him quickly if you don't do something.' Ryuzaki thought to herself.

"So why make both Momoshiro and Echizen vice-captains?" It wasn't against the rules, but from past whispers from other schools it brought chaos most of the time. It would be interesting to see how it played out here. Ryuzaki was going to let it happen anyway; she just wanted to see if she could catch Tezuka off guard at some point and find out his reasoning.

"Momoshiro will recover at some point but that future still has no set time, since replacing Inui as the team manager he has been able to some … interesting … methods which have helped. He is able to judge how things are going in a match and what needs improving. However he still cannot play and therefore as an active tennis vice captain his tennis skills as holding a racket are very minimal. Echizen is able to provide support as an active tennis vice captain and will be able to help others improve in their range of their tennis skills; however when it comes to managerial sides he will most likely fail. Together they can provide support to one another. " Tezuka explained coolly, arms crossed, his expression once again smoothed over in that set stone of 'I'm not giving any of my emotions away'.

Ryuzaki nodded, the support between all the members was highly prized and after the Christmas holidays she was unsurprised to see that the remaining regulars had become even more supportive on one another and was helping each other in pushing past boundaries that had kept them behind, even the boundary that because the case had been closed that Kikumaru and Fuji weren't coming back. The regulars still maintained that hope and it had been reinforced even more now with each other's support, that the two missing members would come back to them. Ryuzaki could still remember the panic in Oishi's mother voice as she asked the coach to do something to help her son out of the depression he was in. So Ryuzaki had also called the other parents of the tennis team, although she had caught herself twice nearly calling Kikumaru's and Fuji's number. She had set up the meeting at Tezuka's house, whose parents had agreed to host the group for the night, whilst they went out to visit grandparents. She was glad that the plan had worked.

"So whilst you leave those three here to retake the national championship title, you, Inui, Kawamura and Oishi will go and create a storm in the high school section hmmm?" Ryuzaki said smiling. Kawamura had announced his plans apparently at the New Year's Eve gathering and through that had inspired the others to carry on playing; even Oishi whom had been on the verge of giving up tennis and hope at that point. The meeting had defiantly not come too soon.

"Create a storm Ryuzaki sensei?" Tezuka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I give you three weeks to over turn the current tennis team that will be there." Ryuzaki countered, with which made Tezuka raise both eyebrows and push back his glasses with his left hand.

"I'll be leaving now Ryuzaki sensei, thank you for agreeing with the proposal." Tezuka said leaving the room. Ryuzaki turned her attention back to the window and the outside world.

"Or is three weeks too long for you?" She murmured to herself. April and the start of the new school year was only two months away and although the regulars were going on, they were still sticking together and Tezuka still kept on planning ahead. "Two vice-captains, sheesh this is going to create a stir" Ryuzaki claimed out loud.

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**Cheerfulish chapter! Yes, I made Ryoma smarter but I kind of want him in the same year as Momo and Kaidoh ... makes more sense for my story which I have planned in my head although it possibly won't turn out that way. And yes I kind of like the idea of Tezuka storming in with his glare and over turning the old tennis team ... and he probably will, you'll find out soon in some chapter ...**

**And once again, I wrote chapter 24 whilst nearly doozing off to sleep part way through.**

**walaakongkwenta: Hey! Welcome back. I don't blame you for falling in love with Doctor Fraser but I am afraid he is married with two kids on the way. As for that scene in the cupboard, I was imaging what it would be like, I'm not claustrophobic so it wasn't so bad in my head; so sorry for making you feel like that. You also forgot about Momo's dunk smash and Kawamura's burning power coming as one at the end to finish Smith off and send him off to the moon! As for giving you Coach Smith, I will give him to you after the story is done and I will give you several copies I promise!**  
**ElementalCat: that confused me for a little while when you reviewed chapter one but I'm glad I keep making your mornings! As for that person, shush ... He's still in America I think but shush on him. **  
**eijikikumarufan01: Yeah I missed answering to you on that chapter! I wouldn't blame Eiji for wanting to stay in hospital either. As for Smith copies, I will give you several ... Eiji and Fuji finding out about Momo is nearly zlich now, the media, if it would have even published in the UK, would have found another story to be more interested in. As for Fuji's hand, your fuelling my evil side of my brain! All I was thinking was that Fuji was slightly nervous of Smith in the car behind and of something Smith said before he got out possibly; now my evil side of my brain is saying that his hand being injured would be even better in another chapter! *hits head to get evil thoughts out*  
demoncat13: *shudders* I hate to think what **

**REVIEWS PLEASE! SAVE ME! Half my brain has been infected with Coach Smith and Coach Saotome! **


	26. Chapter 26

"_Mummy!" An excited voice called from the front door; there were two young boys standing there, couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 with an elder teenage girl standing behind them. Dark hair; wearing the Seigaku middle school uniform, she was a third year that took the two boys home after school. An elder woman peeked her head out of the kitchen door at the far end of the hall; a worn, pale and tired but with a kind smile pushing at the wrinkles on the aging face. It was clear that she had been washing up some dishes as she placed a plain blue towel which was slightly wet on the wooden side cabinet as she came to the door. _

"_Mummy!" The elder woman looked she had been about to say something to the elder girl but she looked down at the two boys who stood in front of her; both wearing wide grins although it seemingly came naturally to this family. A red head boy whom was jumping up and down holding a piece of paper in his hand, he looked about ready to burst with excitement and joy on whatever what was on the piece of paper. "Ryuunosuke sensei said …" the small boy stopped for a breath gulping before carrying on "Ryunnosuke sensei said that he was going to enter Shusuke's photograph for a competition because it was really really good and you've got to fill it in so he can send it off!" he said, looking at the boy standing on his left who had one of his 'I knew he was going to do this, so I let him' smiles. The woman knelt down in front of both of them, taking the piece of paper from the hyperactive boy's hand with quick precision with her right hand._

"_Well isn't that good news Eiji?" She asked softly, stroking the red head's flicky hair with her left hand, not that it was ever controllable and giving Shusuke a hug with her right. The red head nodded his head enthusiastically before squirming underneath his mother's hand; already taking off his shoes. Giving another one of her long smiles the elder woman stepped back and looked at the girl, as Shusuke joined his brother in removing his shoes ready to join his brother in racing up the stairs to their room. _

"_Now boys! Be careful! Uncle Smith is coming around later!" Both boys stopped mid-step in their race and turned as one._

"_Is he bringing his tennis rackets?" Eiji asked, jumping up and down. Shusuke just tilted his head; there was never any need to talk when Eiji was by his side and there was hardly any times when he wasn't._

"_Yes and what do you say to Kwenta san?" She asked in that warm warning tone. Eiji bit his lip, a great big smile spreading across his face, turning to Shusuke on his right before turning back. _

"_Thank you walaakongkwenta san!" They both said in glee before disappearing up the rest of the steps with an indignant voice behind them._

"_I told you never to call me that! Why did I ever let you two look at my email address you little monkeys!" All that came in reply as a door shut to the sound of giggles …_

'In … out … in … out … keep on breathing … in … out … in … out', sweat poured from Fuji's face as he stared at the dark coloured bed sheets on top of him in a sitting position. His blue eyes were unfocused as moonlight poured underneath the blind. "What was that dream?" he finally asked himself in a soft undertone when he had got his breathing back under control. It had been weird, 'almost like a memory' he thought to himself before shaking his head. "No, no. That never happened. I didn't even know Eiji then and he's not my brother. Yuuta … Yuuta is my brother and Yumiko is my sister. Eiji is my friend" he said to himself, clutching his head. That dream was causing him to have a headache. The dream had been almost like it had been real; he could imagine every wrinkle on that woman's face, every board of the wooden hallway floor, the very dish towel on the side cabinet. It could have been real!

Trying to think it over again Fuji struggled over a point, "Coach Smith is not my uncle" he whispered harshly to himself, however his thoughts came back to him saying 'are you sure?' Lying down on the bed again Fuji twisted himself over, trying to get all thoughts of the dream out of his head. With a long sigh, he closed his eyes, clearing his mind as he felt the tug of sleep pulling him; he had to up in the morning to help Eiji with making the packed lunches …

"_ShuShu, do you want me to tell Uncle Smith that you can't play today?"_ A voice said from the side of the bed, a young child's voice …

"But I want to play" Fuji whispered almost in a childish way, his mind instantly alert but his mouth seemed almost disconnected, "Uncle Smith will be upset."

"_But you can't play when you're ill ShuShu, I'm sure Uncle Smith will understand…" _the voice sounded so near him, like the person was leaning over and talking near his ear …

Fuji sat up quickly, his eyes going wide, hitting his head on the bunk on top on the way. Hissing himself he looked over to where he had heard the voice. There standing only a few steps away was a small red head boy about 7 years old whom was dressed in a green polo shirt and white shorts, holding a tennis racket in his right hand. "Eiji" Fuji whispered; unable to control himself as he reached out to try and touch the boy. The other boy smiled sadly and tilted his head.

"_I'll make sure that I'm back so I help mummy make you some get well soup and mummy will explain every to Uncle Smith ShuShu! So just rest and get better!"_ the boy said before turning and scampering through the closed door.

"Eiji wait!" Fuji said almost shouting but catching himself before it could develop into a full out bellow. There was stirring and rustling from up above him as an older Eiji peek down over the wooden slats of the top bunk, blinking at Fuji.

"Would I be going somewhere Shusuke?" he asked, looking confused. He didn't know he was going somewhere and he need to wait … "are you alright? You look pale." Fuji shook his head, giving a long look at the door. Eiji followed his gaze before doing a small tucked in roll over the top and walked over to the door; looking out into the hall. There was no one there and the door to Coach's Smith room was tightly shut. Turning back and shutting their bedroom door behind him he looked at what seemed a very confused Fuji sitting on his bed looking at his hands. "Fuji, are you sure your alright? I mean you can sleep a little bit longer in the morning, I'll make the lunches tomorrow and you don't have to come to the doctors with me and Smith tomorrow so you can rest a bit more then. I mean it's only to pick up a note so I can be in that extra room in exam time." The school had asked for a doctor's note, so encase Eiji had another attack it wouldn't panic the main body of students. The red head boy grasped at the top of the short ladder leading up to the top bunk, "I'm sure Uncle Smith will understand." Eiji said collapsing on his bed, pulling the covers over him.

Down below Fuji was nodding to himself as Eiji spoke, maybe it would be a good idea; he was starting to imagine things like a little Eiji in his room … suddenly the last sentence caught him off guard. It was like the smaller Eiji said when he been in the room. "What did you call him?" Fuji asked looking up, like he could see Eiji through the mattress.

"Coach Smith. Why?" came the sleepy answer accompanied by a yawn. Fuji shook his head, he must have imagined it.

"Nothing" Fuji said as he lay back down on the bed, tossing himself over facing the wall, this thoughts going at a fast pace. His headache was getting worse and why the heck was he suddenly hearing and seeing things that never really existed? Even that dream and the image of the boy was causing him to question whether he really did have a brother called Yuuta in Japan and a father was still alive. Closing his eyes, Fuji tried to get some more sleep.

_"Don't forget ShuShu. Uncle Smith is taking us to school tomorrow so we need to be ready on time." _Came the soft childish whisper into his right ear.

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**All the italics are a dream by the way ...  
Ever heard the saying 'if you tell a lie for long enough,you will start to believe it'? Well that is what is happening here. By having to tell themselves this lie that Fuji and Eiji were born in Japan but had an American father and a Japanese mother etc. it's slowly starting to affect them. Although this is told by Fuji's point of view, I can tell you now that the same thing is happening to Eiji, hence the slip up he makes with the 'Uncle Smith' rather than 'Smith' or 'Coach Smith'. It's affecting them to the point where Fuji's mind is now starting to create memories of this lie of a life they are having. It's almost like Stockholm Syndrome but different. I think this condition has a name but I can't remember it ... **

**And as one of the more frequent reviewers walaakongkwenta has her name mentioned in this chapter! This is the reward you get for reviewing my story frequently ... oh and more chapters to read of course!  
**

**demoncat13: You can try de-eviling that half my brain, don't know if it would work or not. I think it comes from the fact my mental age is like four and so therefore most of my mind is good but I do have my evil sides hence how Smith and Saotome got in. I am literally like an Eiji in real life (with an evil side as well) without the acrobatics and the amazing tennis skills, although I am practicing and getting better. I amaze my friends by getting hyper on air! **  
**ElementalCat: you most certainly can have a Smith clone when this story is done. It wasn't one of my best chapters but it had to be done. **

**NYA! REVIEWIES PLEASE! **

**I do want to ask a question though; is this story still providing that same thrill as when you first read it?**


	27. Chapter 27

Yuuta lay on the bed staring at the cactus which sat in its new home of his room at St Rudolph's on the window sill. His room had nothing extravagant in it, just the standard set which came with the rooms, a desk, wardrobe, chest of drawers, bed and nightstand beside it. On the nightstand lay his blue and grey flip phone, with its front screen turned off. He had turned it off after receiving a phone call from his parents which was leading to his current trail of thoughts. It was an update on the Kikumaru family current situation, a bond had formed tightly between them that before had only existed between Eiji and Fuji. Apparently the stress of ever waiting for her youngest son's return had finally broke Kikumaru's mother and had a mental breakdown which had resulted in her being hospitalised for a few days. The doctor had told them, as Yuuta's mother had been told by Kikumaru's father, that a change of scenery and life would help the woman recover her strength of body and of mental attitude. Although there was a hope that if they stayed in the house Eiji would some how would be returned to them, it was clear that his mother could no longer bear the strain. They had moved in with Eiji's grandparents in an isolated part of Osaka, neatly tucked away in a quiet village; a place that had never seen the flashing lights of the media and heavy pity from society and was unlikely to for a long time.

Yuuta shifted uncomfortably on his bed and sighed turning over so he was lying with eyes facing that standard white boring plain ceiling that came as part of St Rudolph's dorms. A new third year now he still took the decision to be living in the dorms, rather than in the heavy thick atmosphere of despair and glaring silences of his own family home. It was easier knowing that there was at least someone in the room next door to him, not like at his house, where his bedroom was situated right next to his brother's empty one. In everyone's eyes the Fuji family was coping better than the Kikumaru family but Yuuta knew better than that. Inside those four walls his family was breaking under the pressure but like Shusuke, they knew how to conceal that pressure under the presence of a smile.

It had been just over two months ago when he received the phone call about the particular incident involving Eiji's mother, recapturing some of the media's eye in that mid-February time. Luckily all media had almost calmed down immediately afterwards, Yuuta suspected Hyotei had something to do with it but he wasn't going to start pointing fingers at the extremely rich school. The house which Yuuta's aniki had spent so much time with Eiji, whom had been portrayed by the media when the ficasco first came out as the best of friends inseparable until the end of time, now stood empty. The front lawn had been overgrowing quite dramatically with the new-coming of spring when Yuuta had last seen it at the beginning of April. The Kikumaru had been unable to bear with the thoughts of selling the house and once finding that their finances would cope with keeping the house, even if it was empty and devoid of life. Yuuta also guessed that they felt if they kept the house it wouldn't be the end of Eiji, it would still and feel like they still had hope for their youngest son's return.

Yuuta had taken it on himself to call Oishi, feeling that it was his reasonability; after all the vice captain of the Seigaku boy tennis team had looked after him and supported him in the duration of the few weeks whilst remaining in the U-17 camp. They were both going through almost the same kind of thing and now it was time to try and return the favour, even thought Oishi was in high school and he was in St Rudolph's, he thought it was the least he could do. It was also partially because it had been made clear from his mother that the Kikumaru family were really in no shape to make any contact with the young men from Seigaku Regulars and probably hadn't even contacted the school about their recent upheaval and decision to move.

Yuuta couldn't remember in great detail the conversation he had with Oishi over his mobile phone, but there were a few snippets in his head which he remembered in the clearest detail, just like he could remember that dream that felt so long ago. Sometimes during the course of that conversation with the elder boy, Yuuta could have sworn that Oishi's voice sounded like it was breaking and there had been other people in the background, whispering things to him; soft reassurances. He gathered Oishi was repeating everything Yuuta had said to the previous third year students of S. Until that point he never realised how much it could hurt to hear 'the mother hen of the Seigaku Regulars' as he remembered Fuji saying more than once within his hearing range; still holding that smile that had hardly ever slipped his face.

"Baka Aniki!" Yuuta yelled to himself, clutching his white pillow in his right hand and chucking it to the left of the cactus that seemingly tried to look like it was innocent sitting there; even though it had all its thin prickles spiked out in different directions clear to the naked eye. He had brought the cactus from where it had been sitting on his window sill after stealing it from his older brother's room during the Christmas break. He couldn't bear anyone else to look after it, guessing that his sister would just ignore it as she sat in her bedroom desperately using anything to find out about Shusuke's disappearance. His parents would probably try and look after it but with his father getting more and more consumed in his work to try and disappear and his mother fussing over her remaining two children it would, much like it would with Yumiko, get ignored eventually.

And, not for the first time in several months, Yuuta kicked himself mentally for never acting on the dream in the first place. He should have known, he should have been there earlier, maybe he could have stopped it, even without the Seigaku regulars' help. Grabbing his pillow off the floor, Yuuta used it as a barrier as he crashed forwards on to the bed. "Baka" he whispered to himself, feeling his eyes dropping close even though it was the middle of the day with sun shining bright. Tears lined themselves between his closed eyelids and the bottom of his eye, a few escaping. "Baka" he said to himself again. It was all his fault …

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**This is a smaller chapter because I am doing this with someone sleeping over in my room (I live in Uni, we only have one room) and she is currently sleeping behind me so I had to be quick and quiet with this one, I'm glad I am a touch typist. This chapter took me about 30 mins to do, so sorry if I make any mistakes (I am also doing this on the lowest backlight settings, so I can't offically see the keyboard) but like I said, couldn't do a long one tonight and my shoulder is aching (I have muscle problems with my right shoulder) meaning I really should stop now.**

**Anyway I hope you like this chapter, even if it is so short.**

**ElementalCat: I make each chapter each night, I can make a decent chapter with distractions in about 4 hours and I mean big distractions and it doesn't really matter what time zone it is, I still have the same amount of time. But thank you for the compliment. **  
**BF: Nya! Welcome back! The aim was to be kind of eerie feel about that chapter and the sense its almost unreal but with doubts creeping in. Confabulation is probably the one I was aiming more for and it is even worse than being injured because sometimes if you live that lie, you can't get back.**  
**eijikikumarufan01: Nasty classwork! Your taking one of my favourite reviewers away from me! Nya! I don't know why I am focusing on Fuji's view point at the moment, it's just easier to type for me but I think Fuji is suffering really badly from this and is probably going to bring Eiji down with him even if he doesn't want it. As for being rescued, you'll have to wait and see.**  
**demoncat13: I would love to practice with you! Erm ... just got to find the money to keep going back and forth from USA to England each time ... little problem ... just a minor one! I think Saotome had more freedom to be evil because Smith has to cope with the school but if Eiji and Fuji aren't rescued by the summer, there is a 6 week summer holiday with no distrubances ...**

**Shush! Beddy byes now ... need to be very quiet ... but REVIEWS PLEASE! NYA! PLEASE!**


	28. Chapter 28

A large bang echoed around the house; bouncing off the walls and into the ears of the people remaining in the house. It came as a comforting relief to know tennis 'practice' was over and he could have a chance to collapse into the warm and soft embrace of the red leather three-seat sofa in the living room. He didn't make a hurried walk there, knowing there was only one other person in the house and he normally went for one of the two leather armchairs. Sinking into the sofa, he grabbed a book from the coffee table situated in the middle of the three piece suite.

"Nya" Eiji said almost glaring mockingly at the cover of the book which the look of it could kill; the book would have burnt to pieces now. He looked over at Fuji who had comfortably sat himself down with the book in his lap; seemingly reading what was written in it, although Eiji knew he was probably aware of Eiji looking at him. "I dislike maths" Eiji declared finally after a few minutes of silence and staring, waiting for an answer from the currently studying tensai. When he didn't get one, Eiji let out a sigh and opened the book full of equations some of which he had never even heard of and that wasn't because he wasn't paying attention in lessons. Placing his left elbow on the arm of the sofa and supporting his head with a curled up left hand, Eiji stared at the page.

"You won't get anywhere if you just stare at the page Eiji, you do need to read it." Fuji said from where he had been clearly watching from the corner of his eye. The acrobatic red head jumped out of his skin and glared at the other person.

"Nya! Shusuke don't do that!" Eiji cried out, the maths book had fallen out of his lap when he had jumped. Giving a pout, Eiji reached down and grabbed at it. He halted on his way back up for a second when he thought he heard Fuji say something but didn't quite hear it. As he finished sitting back up he looked over at the tensai once again. "Did you say something Shusuke?" he asked curiously and Fuji frowned, it looked like he was hesitant to say what he had just said.

"It our last exam Eiji; we should study for it and then you don't have worry about it. Its no long left before school ends and the summer holidays start." Fuji said smiling red head. Eiji started to study it slightly, finding this current smile was feeling off, not a genuine smile but not a fake smile either, it just felt weird. Before he could understand it a little better Fuji had returned to his own studying and Eiji returned to giving pouts about it.

"Nya but Shusuke! Then we have to worry about the results and the summer holidays mean we won't see anymore of Ushio because we have to practice with Smith all day long for six weeks." Eiji pointed out, trying to make some kind of point about how lonely the summer holidays would feel. Somewhere in the back of his brain something protested that there was once a time when summer holidays would be fun but the red head either couldn't hear it or just ignored it. He looked back at the book in his lap, giving a long sigh. He had been studying, but he was so tired from practicing ever since they got home from school and it was only now at around about 7:30pm that Smith had decided he was going to go out to the pub, leaving them to study for their final exam the next day. Although Smith didn't really care about it and chose to ignore such things, deciding in his head that pro tennis players could get their way in the world without exams and he used himself as an example who had no qualifications from school what so ever.

"Uncle Smith" came an absent reply from the armchair and Eiji swiftly twisted his head towards the honey coloured hair boy, frowning deeply. That warning voice was going in the back of his brain again, although it was muffled and drowned out by other things, mainly Smith and maths at the moment.

"Nya? What did you just say Shusuke?" the name erupted another sigh from the now fifteen year old boy. According to the faked records, they had celebrated their fake birthday on the 26th February, although there had been no celebrations to speak of, Fuji and Eiji had wished each other a happy birthday on that date. It was now May and it had been commented by many teachers that both boys seemed to have matured during that time quite drastically; like something big had changed.

"Uncle Smith, mother never liked us calling him Coach Smith remember?" Fuji repeated, keeping his eyes on the current page he was looking at in the maths book, puzzling over a mathematical equation. Eiji nodded his head.

"Uncle Smith" he agreed; he restarted looking at his own book then and actually reading it for the first time whilst it had been there on his lap. There were a few things the school had noticed, one of which was that now started calling their guardian 'Uncle Smith' more often and were also more willing to talk about their dead mother between each other and sometimes to other people. They would sometimes even share a memory or two with their friends or translators. Although when it came to the memories, it always seemed like one of the two twins would remember it and the other would sit there in confusion, seemingly unable to remember it. The school had put it down that in their grief from their dear mother's death their minds had probably tried to erase all memories of her and replace their lives with a different story. And that as they were getting over it in time, memories were returning to them slowly and that was they were also acting more mature as time went on. From the school's point of view it was only a matter of time before the silly story their minds had made up would disappear and they would be able to remember a majority of their 'real' lives which had been taken from them.

It was another half an hour before Eiji spoke again, after the clock on the mantelpiece had chimed 8pm sharply with its eight ringing 'dings', distracting the red head from his studying. Shoulders sagging Eiji looked at the clock carefully and didn't realise by doing that movement he had managed to also distract Fuji from his work.

"Shusuke, do you remember what mother looked like? I can't seem to remember and Uncle Smith doesn't like having pictures of her because it upsets him so I can't use those." Fuji bit his lip looking up at the ceiling.

"I remember her having long chestnut coloured hair tied back in bun; Uncle Smith always said she was very beautiful with how her red tints in her hair used to show up even more so in the sun. She used to have blue eyes and used to be very slim. She used to wear salmon pink coloured clothing all the time because she had been told that she looked wonderful in that colour." Fuji said, as he tried from his hazy collections of 'memories' to recreate the beautiful woman who used to be their 'mother' until she died. Eiji nodded in along to this recreation and tried remembering the woman the best he could to no avail. He gave a small laugh to which Fuji tilted his head in curiosity.

"I remember not a year ago that she once left her Bluetooth on, on her mobile phone, and I was trying to send your phone a song and I found her Bluetooth name. It was the only time I ever caught her unaware when I asked her about it later that evening at dinner. She said she normally turned it off before we even got home."

"Do you remember what her Bluetooth name was?" Fuji asked, now more interested in trying to remember memories from a past that was still hazy in his head to some extent but becoming clearer by the day.

"I think it was ElementalCat. When I asked her what it meant; she said that dad used to call her that all the time when she was pregnant with us and up until he died. It was one of her ways of remembering him because looking at pictures of him was very hard on her." Eiji gave a long sigh, "I lost that phone two or three weeks later" he muttered giving the maths book a long glare once again. Fuji gave a short smile and looked back at his own book. It only took a couple more minutes before Eiji spoke again and Fuji had to re-divert his attention again. They were really not getting much study done tonight compared to previous nights.

"Do you think she's looking over us right now from heaven?" Eiji asked looking up at the ceiling, like he could see heaven through it.

"Maybe Eiji or maybe she is having too much fun with dad at the moment to worry."  
"Nya, I wouldn't like her to worry over us. Uncle Smith is doing well at looking after us!" Eiji said smiling.

"Eiji?" Fuji asked after a long pause.

"Hmm Shusuke?" the red head looked over at his 'twin'.

"Why don't you call me ShuShu anymore?" Fuji asked, probably more out of longing of wanting to belong where he previously had his mother.

"Nya, I couldn't remember calling you ShuShu. Sorry" Eiji looked dejected slightly at the thought that something that might have felt so precious to Fuji he couldn't remember. "Do you want me to call you ShuShu from now on?" he asked with a soft tone to his voice.

"Only when we are alone" Fuji said with that different-from-normal smile coming back. Eiji nodded his head in excitement.

"Okay ShuShu."

* * *

_**Please spare some thoughts for the Japanese right now; who today, 11th March 2011, had an earthquake registering 8.9 to be followed by a tsunami only minutes later. It is supposed to be the fifth highest ever recorded earthquake and there about 1000 people dead or missing, with many other areas still to search. **_

**As in this chapter, you can see the full effects of confabulation (I think thats how you spell it) and how it is effecting Fuji and Eiji! And ElementalCat makes an appearance in this chapter ... well she has before but I've only just placed her as a character. Like the reviewer BF said, _if _Fuji and Eiji escapes, its going to be interesting to see the reaction between Yuuta and Fuji, seeing as he doesn't remember Yuuta! It will be interesting to write I tell you that for nothing but that's only if they get rescued ... which could be a long time or never seeing as they are forgetting their previous lives.**

**ElementalCat: As a reward for being a constant reviewer, you make an appearance in this chapter! I had to take a deep take on Yuuta, it would have been a boring chapter otherwise ...**  
**walaakongkwenta: Lol! I didn't mean for you to choke on your coffee! But like with demoncat13, eijikikumarufan01 and now ElementalCat13, as a reward for being a constant reviewer (most certainly in length) you make an appearance in the story. Its not too hard to do actually and I like it as a reward system. As for Fuji, as of now, Yuuta is fading ... as for chapter 27, I'm not suprised Yuuta isn't my favourite character and I kind of made him less favourable in this story with the delaying of the dreams. **  
**eijikikumaru01: its unlikely Yuuta will have another dream. I feel sorry for Eiji's mother, I really do ... I want to hug her and tell Eiji is alive and safe-ish. As for classwork, NYA! I dislike it but I agree it has to be done. The class I like the most though is my creative writing class XD I will do that homework any day (basically because it consists of writing poems and stories)**  
**demoncat13: I think now I've done this chapter, probably Fuji's and Eiji's. The Kikumaru family has moved away to recover and they have each other to support with family members and friends and so does the Fujis. Fuji and Eiji only have each other and with additional pressure from Smith and being ill, its dragging them down**

**REVIEWS PLEASE! Pretty please with a chocolate button on top. **


	29. Chapter 29

The neon green tennis ball flew from his hand up into the air before sinking with the pull of the gravity back towards the ground before colliding with the tight strings of the racket, propelling the player towards the net into an attack position ready for the impending return of the other player. A small light rally started between the two players as they battled for the single point which would decide if the server would be the winner or not. It was a small private match taking place on a street court; with a group of close knit friends nearby to watch all equipped with tennis rackets encase they felt the energy to play under the boiling hot sun of midday in the middle of summer. As the server returned the ball what would hopefully be out of shot, the receiver reached out and ended up landing on his front with the ball bouncing in the court and then out.

Oishi quickly made his way around to the other side of the net, as Momo picked himself up slowly into a sitting position with his right leg sprawled out to the side of him. He still wore the support bandage, with the main effects of it taking pressure and pain off his leg and also hiding the hideous red, pink and purple coloured scar (and yes scars can be that colour) that lay underneath it.

Oishi knelt down on his left knee and placed a comforting hand on Momo's shoulder. "Don't push it" the mother hen said softly, "you've only been off the crutches for two weeks. You shouldn't be even able to run yet, much less being able to play tennis the way that you were." Momo looked up at the smiling vice-captain of_**Seishun**_ high school academy tennis club, and frowned looking back at his leg. Whilst he had still been on crutches, there had been many times when Momo had wanted to pound his leg down into dust. Now he was off the crutches he still had to be careful! Those metal sticks still were at home encase something happened but Momo was determined that he wouldn't need them anymore so he had to take things slowly. It was frustrating watching the new regulars and two of the olds one starting to compete in tournaments, whilst he was stuck on the sidelines taking in what menu would have to be made up. He couldn't remember a time before this year he had called Inui up so many times it was untrue.

Oishi stood with a long sigh and held out his right to help the ruffian up; the tennis game was over. That had been the agreement when Momo had finally begged Oishi to let him have a game. If Momo's leg showed any signs it was reaching its limit, they would finish the game where it stood. Oishi had been right to give that condition as it had shown in the last rally; Momo had always been good at hiding his limps from people watching the game but not when his opponent had known his tennis style for several years. Momo took the hand gratefully and together they pulled him up, Oishi quickly wrapping an arm around the boy and helped him over to a spare spot on the bench where the others in group was crowded around it; some in silence staring at the courts, others looking away, one person was writing hurriedly in his green notebook, the shortest of the group was drinking yet another Ponta. To Momo the group looked weird without the shouts that came from the red head acrobatic player and the ever knowing smile from the tensai. It didn't look right and it didn't feel right.

"Mada mada dane Momo-chan" Echizen said in between mouthfuls of the grape juice drink. The sempai had been lost when the results of the exams revealed that Echizen was now a third year in Seishun middle school academy with Kaidoh and himself. Momo gave a long involuntary groan as he sat down on the bench, his right calf was quivering slightly with pain.

"Fshuuuu. Baka, you pushed yourself too hard," Kaidoh said looking at the ruffian. Momo made another groan, this time in annoyance and looked up at Tezuka who stood looking at Oishi, who was uncomfortably seemingly squirming under his gaze.

"Why did you have to make Mamushi the captain Tezuka Bucho?" Momo complained, although he already knew the answer but he wanted to what the heck was going on between him and Oishi and he couldn't do that with the man staring him down.

"Baka, its because you would ruin everything he worked for." The viper replied, a warning tone to his voice.

"What was that Mamushi?" Momo said and sure enough a verbal argument, since Momo couldn't exactly have a physical one at the same, occurred between the two. It also managed to distract Tezuka's attention long enough for Oishi to move quickly and settle himself besides Echizen. Kawamura was sorting out the pair of hot heads effectively and getting in the middle would only redraw unnecessary attention back to himself.

"Your game is still slightly off Oishi sempai," came the voice from besides him. Oishi jumped and looked at the youngest member of their group, who was more intent on looking at the Ponta can in his right hand than him. Oishi then gave a long sigh, he forgot that Echizen was had the second best eye … no, the best eyesight in the group. It was hard thinking that there was the huge possibility that there would be no more golden pair, although remembered through him, and the dream pair would eventually fade from everyone's minds. It had been nine months since Fuji and Eiji had gone missing and it was now late June with everyone relaxing on the summer holidays that they got, which allowed for all the old Seigaku regulars of the previous year to meet and play tennis on several days.

Oishi had tried being on singles when, like Ryuzaki had said, they taken over the tennis team by storm within the first two weeks of being there (by basically outdoing all the current regulars there in tennis matches and in Tezuka's case he had done that by playing a double pair on his own) but after a while, it was obvious that his style belonged to doubles and as painful as it might have been Oishi also had to admit to that. It was hard to see at the tournaments an unfamiliar face take what should have been rightfully Eiji's spot and thus over time his game became slightly off as he had to radically change his playing style. Inui had taken doubles two with a new partner and had adapted easily but everyone understood that it was different for Oishi, it was much harder. There was no way for him to think that the Golden Pair never existed. Kawamura had even mentioned once that there had been some rumours flying around that said that Oishi was breaking down and once someone had dared to say in front of Tezuka, admittedly without him knowing the captain was there, that Oishi shouldn't even be playing tennis even though it was clear he was one of the strongest players at the school. It had been said that the boy mysteriously transferred schools and fallen out of touch with everyone else he had once regarded as friends.

Oishi fiddled with the handle of his racket as Kawamura finally got Kaidoh to stop bickering with Momo with an offer of a tennis game with Tezuka as referee which meant he couldn't talk to Oishi whilst the game was going on. Oishi was so busily concentrating on his handle that he missed the random shouts of English as Kawamura picked up his racket and rushed onto the court, with Kaidoh following up hissing. It had been a while since he last wished that he could rewind time, struggling to recall some distant memories of Eiji before the last year of Seigaku.

It was in that moment that he realised something that struck him a cold hard blow. The ground started to spin randomly around his tennis racket as he stared at hard at the handle. He could faintly hear a voice from his right.

"Oishi sempai? You look pale. Oishi sempai are you alright?"

"Oishi sempai!" came an alarmed voice further from his right. Somewhere in the distance in front of him, he barely registered that the game had stopped and other voices had joined in the background; one of those voices was giving some random statement about some percentage. Slowly Oishi looked up from the handle, the ground had stopped spinning but all he could see was 5 concerned people standing there and a very classical stoic look from someone behind. In turn he studied them all individually within a span of a few seconds and came to a horrifying conclusion that the same thing that was happening to him had already started way back for them, probably several months ago. His mouth opened, but no words came out. Slowly, after a few minutes, Oishi lowered his head looking at the ground again as a few terrifying words escaped from his lips, combined with pain and hurt of the mental kind.

"I'm starting to forget him."

* * *

**Yes its been 9 months since Fuji and Eiji were kidnapped ... I spent about 10 minutes working that out. And duh dun dun! The Seigaku Regulars are forgetting Fuji and Eiji! Maybe I should return them soon ... maybe ... not the most exciting chapter in the world, and my laptop screen is dying on me, the backlight keeps blinking out. I am also very tired ... time to sleep me thinks!**

**BF: Its your turn to appear next in the story, just got to figure out when and how... but Atobe is not going back to England and I highly doubt he would come to Lincolnshire. As for retriggering memories, we can only hope that Eiji and Fuji will be able to get their true memories back when they see everyone or at least one person.**  
**ElementalCat: No you can't torture Smith right now, otherwise I wouldn't be able to complete the story! You can torture a copy when I get around to making them ... just got to catch Smith first**  
**demoncat13: Erm, I think if Yuuta knew and he had the chance to kill Smith, the guy would be gone before we could even blink. **

**Reviews please! And I am off to sleep now ... I think ... might not seeing as it is 5:00am**


	30. Chapter 30

Fuji didn't think it was possible for a country to suffer from a heat wave during the last few weeks of the school year only for it to pour it down with rain, creating torrential hazards almost two days after the last day of school. It was now the third week of the six week summer holiday in the early part of the month of August and the rain showed no signs of stopping. The back garden was a no go area and the drainage in the road in front of the house was overflowing meaning that it was impossible for Smith to drive out and go have his normal drink down at the pub. The tennis rackets were respectively in their bags and hanging on the coat hanger in the hallway. If Smith had been able to drive he would have taken Fuji and Eiji down to the local indoor courts and had them practice there. Yet there was nothing he could do and in turn Fuji and Eiji had learnt quickly that their room was the only place that Smith wouldn't enter. They had been lucky that Smith had gone food shopping the day after they had broken up from school; so Eiji was carefully preserving the food when making the meals in the evening.

There was no TV or radio in the room so there was no way the boys know if the rain was going to stop soon or not. Fuji often wondered about the lack of communication outside the house, it felt like he couldn't remember something important which desperately needed to remember but those moments were rare and he could often shake them off with a swish of his head. He didn't dare ask Uncle Smith; who seemed angrier as the rainy days went on with no signs of stopping and often took it out on them. He was asked what it felt like every time he was beaten for no reason, he would have replied that it just felt normal, it was part of a normal routine, that Uncle Smith was angry and mother always said that they should look after Uncle Smith and treat him right. It had been very kind of him to look after the family both emotionally and financially when their father died, so their mother had told them they must treat him with respect and let him do what he wished. 'That had been whilst she had been alive; therefore now she is dead and Uncle Smith is looking after us we must open to accept any type of punishment because he is keeping us feed, warm and giving us schooling and a new chance at life.' Fuji mused to himself as he kept an eye on Eiji who was buzzing around the kitchen preparing things for the meal tonight, with occasional glances towards the door of the kitchen and the hallway beyond. He knew that Uncle Smith was in his study and currently doing something of great importance with his company in America; although he didn't say what it was, he never did and he had spent a great deal of time in there.

"Eiji, how much alcohol has Uncle Smith got left in the fridge?" he asked a few minutes, as he watched the red head boy placing one of his more crowning recipes of chopped chicken breasts, broccoli in a white roux sauce with a cheese topping into the oven to be cooked for thirty minutes. He normally served it with pasta but had once or twice served it with rice, depending on what they had been stocked up on. The acrobatic tennis player knew every part of the kitchen and was able to give almost accurate results when asked about the contents of the kitchen and how much food, or alcohol in this case, was left. Eiji didn't stop as he thought about what the man had last night, when he had last checked it. He was busily checking the warmth of the oven to check if it had warmed up.

"Nya … I think he has two crates of larger left and about 14 more loose cans of beer on one of the sides." Came the reply in that 'I'm busy so I can't give you an accurate result' kind of tone to it. Fuji bit his lip looking back at the hallway. "Why ShuShu?" Eiji said standing up as he closed the door to the oven and turned towards the butler style sink, with the intent of washing up before getting the pasta ready, not looking at the honey coloured haired boy (whose eyes had never closed after the incident of the dream) who was leaning on his right elbow on the black marble surface of the island.

"He's been in there for a while," Fuji muttered to himself as he pushed himself away from the island with both of his hands, and headed for the built in fridge that was on the opposite side of the island to where Eiji was. He pulled the tall built in fridge open with his left hand and peered inside, curiously counting the remaining crates and cans. It was common knowledge to Eiji and Fuji that Uncle Smith always had plenty of alcohol in his study, although it was never seen by the pair, but he did store some of his alcohol in the fridge and from that the 'twins' could tell whether or not he was going to be seriously drunk. One of the crates had gone missing and there were at least 8 cans that had disappeared. Fuji's shoulders sank and he quickly glanced over to Eiji who was busily humming to himself loudly. 'Uncle Smith is so much nicer when he isn't drunk' Fuji thought to himself and slowly prepared himself to tell the other boy in the room.

"Eiji …" he said only to be interrupted by a slam of a door from the hallway and heavy thudding footsteps which were sounding like they were coming towards the kitchen. Fuji watched the doorway, shutting the fridge door behind him and stepped back against the painted wood door. Eiji had froze in the middle of washing one of the chopping boards and both boys' bodies freezing like they were stuck in ice. Fuji could hear heavy breathing and the splash of the water as the chopping board fell from Eiji's hands.

A left hand clawed its way into Fuji's view, trying to grab at the smooth surface … it was impossible to not notice. Fingers scrunched with the palm flat out; it was the closest a human could get to a monster claw. Brown and clear drops dripped from the fingernails, hitting the marble floor with a solid splash. Slowly the hand spread itself out and using the new leverage it found, the rest of the drunken monster pushed his way in. Eyes narrowed with the glinting of the over head lighting as it fell across the kitchen; there was a half smile across the face. Back scrunched over, knees bent, the right foot dragging behind the left. The right arm hung limply but there was that hunger in the face, as the blonde hair hung across it, little droplets of liquid hung from it. A sneer that was half formed, the tongue sweeping up any alcohol it could get near from around the mouth. The smell that came from the clothes was full of the cheapest beer and larger, mixed with a sent of more expensive vodkas from aboard.

The thing staggered forwards, grabbing at the island counter to keep himself steady, Fuji saw out of the corner of his eye, Eiji taking a few steps back until he was at the back wall. It brought something of a relief to Fuji that Eiji hadn't totally frozen up in fear. Uncle Smith had obviously drunk much more than his usual amount. Outside the rain looked comforting to the situation inside the house. Suddenly the monster roared as a lightning bolt cracked outside and the electricity went, plunging the kitchen into a darkened state. All that was heard was a huge roar of a thunderbolt. Time stood still until another lightning bolt crackled its way down past the windows, making Eiji jump violently in the back. Everything started to move quickly then, far too quickly for Fuji to make sense of it all.

The monster had hold of something and suddenly launched his way around the island towards Eiji. Fuji's legs started to move quickly and without warning. Grabbing at Eiji as the man reared his right hand up in the air he pulled the boy away as the thing in the man's hand sparkled with another white flash of the spilt lightning outside. The sharp long silver knife embedded itself where Eiji's right shoulder had been into the dark cabinet. Fuji stood there in horror, staring at it, with Eiji wrapped in his arms tightly and protectively from where he pulled the red head into him. He staggered backwards a few steps, not letting go of the shaking boy in front of him, whom had his head turned into left shoulder, as the thing that stood before them, surrounded by the flashes of the fierce storm outside tried pulling the knife out.

Then with the flash of lightning followed quickly by the thunder roaring through the skies, the monster turned, giving up on the knife. Heavy footsteps made their way towards the two boys and Fuji closed his eyes, holding Eiji's head tightly with his left hand against his chest as it was a way to protect him, and turned his own head away. He could feel the red head shaking non-stop. There was a hard grip on his left wrist and as his eyes snapped open, he was pulled away from Eiji, who tumbled away from the sudden release of pressure. Fuji could only gasp up at the man they knew as Uncle Smith held his left arm up high by his wrist, or just below it, stretching the boy and leaving him on his tiptoes; he could feel the blood draining from it. The hungry look that had been evident in his face before had now been replaced by a furious look. Fuji's eyes were captured as the man's other hand; his left hand was raised and grabbed hold of Fuji's left hand. It became evident in that second that Smith's power only grew when he consumed alcohol, as the man plunged the hand backwards, further than what a hand should go. A clear snap could be heard echoing across the kitchen.

If there was any screams of pain, it was lost in the bolt of lightning and the thunder that accompanied the moment. Fuji didn't know if he had screamed or not, but all he felt was the thumping pain from his left hand. Suddenly he was falling backwards as the monster let go and stumbled out of the kitchen; presumably to collapse on his bed and sleep the hangover away. Fuji waited for the hard ground to come up and meet him but he never met it as arms grabbed at the tensai just above the hard marble. He was brought tightly into the embrace of a worried Eiji, whom seemed to be asking him something or tell him something … Fuji couldn't tell as thunder drowned out his words and as the lightning flashed across the room and as it faded so did his conscious. The darkness was comforting, the darkness was safe.

* * *

**Smith just broke Fuji's wrist ... you can blame this chapter on eijikikumarufan01! She enfuelled my evil side of my brain with one of her reviews earlier. However don't hurt or kill her, because if she hadn't suggested it, this chapter was going to have a lot darker ending. E.g. that knife wouldn't be in the cabinet, it would have been in Fuji's hand instead.**

**demoncat13: **Erm its not only Oishi forgetting, the other regulars are forgetting as well ... ha, I go from two sad chapters to a dark evil chapter ... bad mix ...  
**yume229: **WELCOME! Yeah, I end up writing these chapters at like 10pm at night and then finish them at like 2/3am in the morning. Which is bad ... don't do it, trust me, its really bad. I only get away with it for some reason because I adapted to this new sheculde and I am at uni. But I'm glad you like the story so far  
**BF:** yeah trust momo to recover quicker than anyone should. The memories of many characters are being played around with at this point ... and the regulars got caught in it's twist ... I wonder how much they would torture me before killing me if they were real life people? Actually I don't want to think that ... I'd rather not test Inui's juice.  
**ElementalCat:** You may want to up the torture plan in pain giving after reading this chapter  
**eijikikumarufan01: **NYA! I missed you again! I would love to take a Japanese class, in fact you can tell me something. What the heck is Captain written in romaji? I see so many different spellings of the same thing ... Bouchou, bucho, boucho ... driving me crazy ... Anyway, yes Oishi is forgetting Eiji and I think him and Yuuta are possibly taking this the hardest but that maybe because I am writing from their view points and the characters are the closest to Fuji and Eiji anyway (apart from the dream pair themselves). OH! Did you see my profile piccy? Its a baby Eiji!

**REVIEWS PLEASE! I will give you a Smith clone to torture after this story is done, I promise!**


	31. Chapter 31

Momo watched from the corner of Kawamura Sushi as the former regulars were sat about, memorizing over certain albums that had been brought out. The television set was blaring away in the background, a sign on the front door to say the restaurant was reserved for the evening. Two blue and white regular jackets lay on a table to the side, not forgotten but highlighted for everyone in the place to see and remember. A young brown haired boy, who was the only one of the group that was not part of the former Seigaku Regulars, sat next to one of them, fingering the material in his right hand, rubbing away at it. Momo could swear that if Yuuta rubbed at it anymore, he would eventually make a hole in it. Not that he wanted to make any comments on it; he wouldn't be able to run away from the boy. He had been hobbling about for a few weeks without the crutches much to everyone's delight but he still wasn't allowed to run. Chasing tennis balls with a tennis racket was supposed to be a forbidden sport for him in the terms of the doctor's eyes but with silent agreement from his family and friends he still played it, not that he could put up much of a match for a long time. He had yet to complete a full game. In fact it was playing tennis this morning that had ended up with him being settled in a corner, a cushion under his right leg, with a photo album spread out besides him on the table.

It was a year since that fateful day, the day that the secret camp had stormed into the main camp ready to start a revolution and take over the main camp, to beat them with their tennis skills. Early morning, they had taken over; it had probably been the only time the main camp had suffered such an early wake up call. Inui could have probably told you the exact time when the news was dropped on them, he had been writing in his notebook at the time … The biggest after shock of the bomb shell was probably when Oishi announced 'that he was forgetting _him_', denial setting in once again, everyone knew the egghead had been talking about his one and only doubles partner.

It still pained Momo to think that he was the last one to see Eiji and Fuji, the only one out of the police and everyone at the camp, to see the devastation of what had become of the two former regulars. Whilst in the hospital, Momo remembered he had told a brief overview to everyone, apart from the police, including the therapist his parents had wanted him to see afterwards. To the Kikumaru family, to the Fuji family, to his own family and to the regulars Fuji had a fever when Momo had seen him for that one night and Eiji had been looking after him in a 'mother hen' style. It had been an attempt to keep Oishi's spirits up and seemingly had worked. He had made the police swear not to tell anyone and so therefore no one knew the truth of the horrible cries which wrenched the heart as Fuji had called out to Yuuta in his sleep (he had however told Yuuta in private that Fuji was still very much thinking of him) and the way that the acrobatic cheerful red head boy had broken down in Momo's arms. At the time the lie had stung, but now on the anniversary of the date that they had found out of the kidnapping of their two friends the pressure and the sting of keeping the lie had grown through out the year. Christmas had been bad, Eiji's and Fuji's birthday had also been a pretty bad time and this union was probably the topping on the cake.

It had been Kawamura's idea to do this union thing; he had suggested it nearly a week after Oishi revealed the horror on the courts. "A way to keep remembering Fuji and Eiji" he had said loudly to the others before running off shouting "burning baby! Let's get this show on the road!" as a curious freshman of the high school tennis club had tried figuring out what the rumours was about a certain regular changing when he held a racket in his hand. Momo had been told that weekend by the high school students, well mainly Oishi, that the poor freshman had been calmed and given a warning of ten laps from Tezuka after they had managed to extract the tennis racket from the power player's hand. However mysteriously enough the freshman had then fainted the next Kawamura had come near him and the parents had decided that it was a better idea for him to be in another high school. Kawamura had looked very sheepish through that conversation and when Momo had got home, it was the first time in a long time that he had laughed that hard.

Thinking of that incident now made Momo chuckle as he fingered one of the photos of Fuji and Eiji in the photo album. Yuuta had been asked to bring the photo albums and the Eiji's and Fuji's regular jackets seeing as his family held the stuff. The grandparents of the Kikumaru family had asked the Fuji family to look after the regular jacket belonging to their youngest grandson; it was a precious memento that they didn't want to get rid of but yet couldn't have around the house encase Eiji's mother had another stress induced collapse. It was also wide knowledge between the Seigaku regulars that Fuji had several albums worth of photos of them in his room; you could never trust the tensai with a camera in his hand. So thus Yuuta had been asked to bring them over to the Sushi restaurant on the day so everyone could keep remembering about the two missing members.

Momo was startled out of his thoughts when a shadow fell directly across him and he looked around to see the youngest member of the Fuji family settling himself besides Momo facing the table. Momo gave a small smile as he moved the cushion and his leg so Yuuta could be settled better. After performing that small manoeuvre Momo looked at the open album which had been settled next to him. He watched as Yuuta flicked slowly through the pages, stopping on one or two to look at one of the four photos that it could be on the black background page.

"This was his favourite album" Yuuta muttered softly, so only Momo could hear. The ruffian looked over at the other regulars to see what they were doing. Kawamura was preparing some more sushi, Oishi was silent as he was sitting against a wall and an album resting on his knees, Inui was jotting away in his notebook, Tezuka was sitting on one of the high stools drinking a fruit juice of some kind, Echizen was flicking through the photos what could be seen as almost idly (although Momo could tell that the young prodigy wasn't, the white cap was tilted just slightly further down, hiding the boy's face from anyone's view) and Mamushi was sitting there eyes closed with a photo in front of him on one of the tables. All was general quite silent apart from the chopping of Kawamura's sushi knife. Momo looked back at Yuuta and gave a gentle smile placing his right hand on the boy's left shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I'm sure he'll create a new favourite album when he gets back" Momo said smiling. "I'm sure he's thinking of you, of all of us" the ruffian said giving a small laugh to which Kaidoh opened his eyes and hissed at the boy.

"Fshuuuu. Quiet baka" came the strict voice of the now captain of the Seigaku regulars middle school tennis club.

"Why Mamushi?" the boy snapped back, earning a small groan from Yuuta who could already predict another argument coming along and didn't need Inui's data to prove it as it started seconds later, expect without the normal fighting as Momo's leg wouldn't allow for him to move and Momo often took the first move at the viper.

"Momoshiro, Kaidoh. Stop fighting" Tezuka's voice floated over to the two and unsurprisingly they stopped fighting.

"Hai buchou" they said the topic they were fighting over gone out the window. The former captain looked like he was ready to serve them laps as punishment when Kawamura interrupted him.

"It's on", that was all that was needed to be used to direct the attention of every person in the room towards the small television set. It was a repeat of the appeal that the Kikumaru and Fuji families gave almost a year ago to ask for their two children back, seeing as the Kikumaru family were unable to appear and the Fuji family had also started to decline under stressed related problems. It had almost been seen as a last ditch attempt by the police to get more evidence, although the heavy weight hung over everyone in the room that they knew that if nobody had rung with useful information last year then it was unlikely anyone would this year …

"Mada mada dane. Fuji-sempai and Kikumaru-sempai are strong" Echizen said several minutes afterwards breaking the deathly silence.

"Fuji and Eiji will be here by Christmas. They wouldn't give up!" Kawamura said trying to give some hope but everyone could feel that this Christmas was possibly going to be just as hard as the last. And all that was need to confirm that was the painful tear that Momo watched sliding down's Yuuta's right cheek which was being ignored by the boy, as it slid onto one of the few photos of Fuji and Eiji. No data could have greater impact than that of the heart …

* * *

**Yes time is very flickal in this story, at least for this part ... but a year has passed and Momo's being keeping a secret from everyone ... how do you think everyone would react if they knew it?**

**demoncat13: **No you cannot kill Smith just yet and annoying fanfic for not letting you log in, but I think it would be possible slightly more annoying for me not to be able to log in cause then I wouldn't be able to update this story!  
**Melodious Flurry:** Welcome back! Yeah that was a dark chapter ... and unfortunately no one is going to see them inside the house ... they are kind of stuck there ...  
**eijikikumarufan01: **You are a star, star, star. Arigatou! Yes Smith was completely and utterly insane in that last chapter under the influence of drinking ... and aww baby! (Babies are cute! And congratulations on your engagement) I have an idea for the next story I want to do after this and involves Oishi suddenly becoming a single parent of the regulars because something turned them young ... I got it off a piccy where Oishi is a nursery teacher and he's got some of the regulars surrounding as toddlers ... its my background and so cute!  
**yume229: **Your not alone in that ... its a weird thing wanting your favourite characters to go through but your not alone in those thoughts ... but Smith is seriously evil stuff  
**pdfish: **Hello! I like your ideas however I have an idea of how I want to go but let your imagination go wild! Its always more fun  
**ElementalCat: **Straight to the point in that review then ... and Old Kikumaru might make a reappearance in the next chapter ... old kikumaru with new memories I mean ...

**Reviews please! If you do that I might start putting the Smith Clones into mass production early ... like you can have them next chapter early ...**


	32. Chapter 32

His right hand held the pen which was scratching away at the surface of the paper as he completed the needed homework which he had been unable to do during the lunch hour after focusing on his photography coursework, the written side and photographic side. He couldn't hold a camera properly at the moment and it was proving awkward to perform to a high standard like his previous works. His left hand was lain out on the desk besides him, unmoving, palm up, ignored. It was better to ignore it. Less painful, less memorable. The homework was to him more important than remembering. After that attack in the kitchen, there had been a small fear planted within him, which had grown over time just as the floods had risen with the never ending rain. There had been a gap in the weather and whilst Eiji had fearfully asked him to get some shopping, going with him to get a support bandage for Fuji's wrist. After Uncle Smith had awoken from his drunken slumber, he had refused to take Fuji to the hospital saying that it wasn't his playing hand so there was no need for it. It had left the red head to deal with setting the wrist straight. There had only been so much Eiji could do, Fuji had acknowledged that in great detail. For about the first week, with a rough spilt to keep his wrist straight Fuji had been in pain that was indescribable. Echoing through out his body, chilling him to the bone at nights and Eiji had been once again forced to care for him, kept up until all hours of the night, holding him tightly in what comfort he could give.

It had been the one shopping trip that Smith had taken in the rain. Eijihad said they had managed to get enough food to last them for several weeks but the shocking news came in a quiet whisper. It had not only been food that they had stocked up but Smithhad spent large amounts of money in the alcohol sector. On that night alone, Smith had become an insane monster. Eiji and Fuji had been trying to sleep in their room, but under the firing of the gun from the kitchen below sleep was impossible. Pottery shattered, hitting the roof. Bullet rocketed against the marble surface; each impact sounding like it was hitting someone in the stomach. Each shot had made them jump and in the end Eiji had clambered down the ladder and into Fuji's bed. It had been a wise decision as when the dark drunken steps had slowly dragged itself up the stairs, one foot clunking against the wooden boards, the heavy panting of someone not physically fit or unwell against their bedroom door. The door was bent inwards, bending like it would break at any moment and they both knew a thing would stand there. A hunched back form whose shoulders who be heaving for breath, a hand that would possibly hold the dark gun. The pressure had relieved off it, after several tense minutes before a cold blooded laugh echoed through the wooden door and settled in the two boys' bodies. A single click was heard before a sharp bullet rocketed through the door leaving a rounded hole and into something in the top bunk. The breathing had finally gone away after a while and an unsettling peace had settled after that. Eiji had later returned to his bed and found much to his dismay; the bullet had ripped its way through the teddy bear's stomach which he had been given last Christmas. It had scared Fuji to know that if Eiji had still been in that bed, laying down listening then, instead of the bear taking the bullet it would have been Eiji'sneck; as Fuji knew the bear lay in aligned with the bottom of Eiji's pillow. Vivid images of blood and splatters across the wall accompanied by a body in Fuji's mind kept him up that night.

The kitchen the next morning had been a mess. Pieces of things that were once plates now lay scattered across the floor, drawers had numerous holes in it and Eiji had spent hours picking out the bullets from the marble counters under Smith's aggressive eye. It was almost lucky that they had a spare set of things hidden away in the large utility room encase something did get broken; it had just been unexpected that it would happen by the use of a gun. Nothing was spoken of the night before in Smith's presence.

Now Fuji had taken precautions to keep away from the ground floor as much as possible, even finishing the meals as quickly as humanly possible. There was the guilty feeling as he left his twin below but it was understood on both sides and Eiji often joined him whenever he was finished. Currently the red head was finishing off placing the dishes into the dishwasher in the kitchen below as Fuji was finishing a set of maths problems. He could have easily got the answers off Eiji but felt wrong about thinking about it.

When the rain had stopped with only a week of the summer holidays to spare; Fuji and Eiji had been once again ushered outside by Smith to play tennis after he had drained the tennis courts of excessive water, or rather made Eijiand Fuji do it. Tennis practice had resumed and Fuji knew he had been pushed to his limits, playing with his handicap of his broken wrist which only pained him slightly from time to time at this stage two weeks after it had been broken. His back hands had become a lot more difficult to do and thus Fuji's tennis skills in Smith's eyes had decreased rapidly, as he refused to acknowledge the protests from Eiji that Fuji couldn't play as well. It had been a long, cold and painful night within that cramped cupboard space, it had also been the most uncomfortable he had experienced in a long time.

Fuji gave a long sigh as he finished the last problem on the sheet and passed it off to the side. Slowly he passed a long look at his left wrist. Both Eiji and he had adopted the lie that he had managed to sprain it by falling down the stairs but it was bad enough to require a support bandage. There was no way they could defy their mother's wishes that they would respect their uncle and he wasn't the one in control of his actions when he hurt them, Fuji tried to reason with himself and that small warning bell that had recently come back into his head to his annoyance.

Slowly Fuji tried testing his hand for what was probably the 50th time today. Once again his fingers stopped only after a short distance in a curved grip at the top, he was only just able to hold a tennis ball in his hand. It had been that way for a while now and it was now several weeks, coming up to months, since it had been originally broken. He knew that if he had gone to hospital and had it properly set then it would be fine by now but … if he went and told the nurse now then Smith would be in trouble and he would be defying his mother's wishes Fuji told himself. Eijihad assured him that all knives were now safely out of sight and out of easy reach, so Smith wouldn't have access to them.

The door handle was pushed down and Fuji glanced quickly at it, hoping it wasn't Smith. They had already had tennis practice today with him after school and he had pushed them extra hard. Somehow he had managed to get a decent game but it still wasn't his previous level of playing, it was hard withhis wrist but Smithwouldn't understand. He had previously hoped the man wouldn't notice and wouldn't punish him but it seemed he was wrong. Fuji stood quickly, holding his left wrist in his right hand behind his back and closed his eyes ready to take on the onslaught of what the man had been drinking tonight. He started to shake slightly. He heard the door open fully and close with a quiet catch. He was then embraced in a warm comforting hug to which he opened his eyes quickly and saw it had been Eiji that had entered much to his relief.

"Nya, ShuShu. It's just me" Eiji whispered. The red head had noticed the changes ever since the incident in the kitchen and it concerned him that his twin had become scared, more afraid, recoiling into himself. He felt like he was losing Shusuke and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He wondered how long he could keep on obeying his mother's wishes until Shusuke finally snapped and took Eiji with him. Eiji was having enough problems of his own and he was feeling like he had to take on Shusuke's as well. Ever since entering their final year of compulsory education Eiji had three minor repetition of what had happened at Christmas. He hadn't gone to hospital, it wasn't serious enough but it didn't help that it only served to increase Shusuke's panic that one day Eijiwould have an attack and Smith wouldn't get back in time.

"ShuShu." Eijisaid softly, stroking Fuji's hair with his right hand. "Don't worry" he whispered, "it will be alright. Uncle Smith said he might be taking steps to curb the amount he is drinking and try and stop." It was a blatant lie and Eijiknew it, Smith had said nothing about stopping but Eiji wanted to somehow keep him together, and if lying would do it, then he would lie … "for your sake" he whispered softly.

* * *

**It seems Fuji is breaking even further ... if that's possible ... hope this chapter is okay ... struggled slightly over this ...  
NYA! So happy today! Got a phone call from a place I want to have a summer job at and had an over phone interview (should get told if I am through in the next couple of days) and I sold my cd and so I am going to get some money coming in!**

**walaakongkwenta: **Okay, woa. Thank you for the compliments (especially the favourite!) and I did say that Saotomeand Uncle Smith invaded my brain and made half it evil. I'm glad I was able to give you a different perspective on Oishi and Yuuta. As for writing from Tezuka's and Echizen's point of view, it scares me slightly to write from one of them. I'm more comfortable writing from Fuji/Eiji/Oishi/Yuuta/Momo point of view because I feel that people won't know them as more. I possibly will do Kawamura next chapter. I don't know why I don't like writing from limelight characters point of view but I feel like people know them and I might make them OOC. That's why its harder to write from them and not from the others  
**Melodious Flurry: **I know you want them to come back but unfortunately I can't snap my fingers and bring them back (and plus it's difficult to type whilst snapping your fingers). Just hold on a little longer  
**eijikikumarufan01:** Yes, that's a new twist to my thing. I didn't think of that until I actually wrote that chapter but it made sense. NYA! I want an invitation to your wedding (just so I can cuddle the babies ^-^) and so you can teach me more Japanese ... I am self learning and have only just really started ... as for that piccy, yeah it would have been nice to have all of them in but the story will. Plus Eiji's hair is red, not brown like is on the piccy. That distracts me slightly  
**demoncat13:**I've wanted to give all of the regulars+families+yuuta a big hug for a while now ... Smith won't let me ... and Daigoro is ... erm ... well I think he's still in Eiji's room ... and why do I feel like I've missed something out between you and walaa?  
**ElementalCat: **Your favourite chapter? Okay, didn't suspect that ... and you can kill Smith after the story is done!

**Reviewies please! I like my reviewers! You lot make my day! Seriously you do!**


	33. Chapter 33

It was sat there in front of him; the words were loud and clear, blaring into the silence of the room, its meaning as clear as day to anyone who read it. You didn't need a degree in communication to understand what this would mean, what consequences it would have on his life. They had only sent it off in away to make some sort of fun, he had needed cheering up this year. It had arrived several weeks ago and only now did Kawamura have the courage to look at it. This could change every aspect of his life and it scared him to the bone, chilled him through out. He had first been unable to comprehend the situation and now was only just facing it; a day before Christmas. It almost felt like a repetition of what had happened a year before when the police had phoned his house, to inform him of the closing of the case. It would feel like a betrayal which ever one he clicked. There were two answers Kawamura expected his dad was going to ask him in the form of a yes and no question. No ifs or buts.

As much as he wanted to be excited for his parents, he was scared as well. His sister had no choice in the matter really due to her young age and was actually enthusiastic about it all. In his head he knew this would be a brilliant career path, something he could indulge into and rise very quickly but again what about his promise … Kawamura gave a long sigh as he walked into the living space, where his parents were sat the table; each holding what seemed a warm cup of tea in one of their hands looking over some papers spread out on the table. It was a small flat they lived in but that was mainly because the restaurant took up so much space downstairs, but there had never been any complaints. It was just right for the four of them, living with the income from the restaurant downstairs but now it seemed everything was going to change if he gave the answer yes.

After a long pause, Kawamura finally sat down opposite to his parents, folding his hands in front of him on the table, running his right thumb over his knuckles on his left hand. Hard, broad, they knew both how to wield a knife skilfully as well as a tennis racket and put all of his energy into it. He was the number one power player for middle school in Japan until someone took that title from him this year. He hoped that person would be Momo; the ruffian was now playing in doubles two, as he improved on his leg but it was common acknowledgment even by the doctors that he would be available to play to his full standard once again when starting back after these holidays. For some reason the middle school tournament had been delayed over a long period than it had been for when they had been in the third year. It seemed that Eiji and Fuji's kidnapping had affected more people than originally thought.

"Takashi" Kawamura's father started, frowning down at the papers that he had been busily looking over. "I've decided to accept" he said slowly like he was mulling over his words as he was speaking them. Kawamura looked away suddenly, trying to keep control of emotions he felt inside which were waiting to burst out. It had only been a harmless competition; he and his dad had entered it thinking there was no way they were going to win. It was a cooking competition and there were more contestants out there which Kawamura's father admitted cooked far better and more elegant things than he did. He would be the first to admit that any day of the week. The prize had really not meant anything, it was just an attempt to cheer Kawamura up after the date of a year since Eiji's and Fuji's kidnapping had passed. They had thought so many people would have entered Kawamura Sushi wouldn't have got there really but they did and now, the prize was Kawamura's father. A contract to a larger restaurant in Osakain a popular area and several thousand yen to support the restaurant when it first opened had been the prize, along with housing provided. "It will be a good thing for your mother and myself, a chance to make Kawamura Sushi a bigger thing, so it won't just be your friends that come over so often anymore." Kawamura's father gave a smile, trying to catch his son's eye. "Takashi?"

Kawamura nodded and stood from the table, his hands pushing him away. "I'll inform Tezuka and … Oishi", his thoughts was in turmoil. It felt like it was going to be a repeat of last year, he didn't know if Oishi would be able to handle it. The boy was barely handling the situation as it was. How many more pushes would it take before the vice-captain would fall over the edge of the cliff? It wasn't going to be many after Kawamura announced this news.

"What are you talking about Takashi?" Kawamura looked blank as he stared at his mother.

"I'll tell them that we are moving out of the area. I presume I am transferring schools as well." He said in a monotone voice. Kawamura's father shook his head firmly.

"And sell this place?" The elder man said in almost an angry voice. "This is where Kawamura Sushi started and this is where it will always be. This restaurant will always be in our family even if it doesn't serve food anymore to customers. It will be your job Takashi to make sure that if I ever want to return here then I am able to return to this place and find you enjoying your tennis with your friends and doing things you enjoy. What I said a year ago still stands, the restaurant can wait. You are happy when you are with your friends, this place is yours now. However that does not mean you can get away with serving pre-bought Sushi from the shop. I expect you to be able to serve your friends on special occasions." If Kawamura had less dignity, he would have stood there with the bottom of his mouth hitting the table.

"But … but what about the money to run this place?"

"I'll find a way to fund this place don't you worry. I expect you to look after this place Takashi." Kawamura's father said standing and embracing his son in a tight hug. "Your mother, sister and I will be here until second day after new year. The new place they are giving us is apparently fully modernized and furnished." Kawamura snapped out of his shock and gave a huge smile, squirming out of his father's hug and running upstairs to celebrate his little sister, for the first enjoying the fact that his father had won the competition. Downstairs Kawamura's mother moved from her position and wrapped her arms around her husband. Kawamura's father looked up the stairs with a weird expression on his face.

"You did the right thing" she whispered.

"In the end he needs his friends more than he knows" the elder man said turning and give his wife a kiss on the forehead.

* * *

**Right, now I got most of the huge time skip out of the way, major things are going to start happening again ... can't say much more than that! Only that I am tired right now, need to go to bed and ... and ... zzzzzzzzzzzzz *falls asleep* (has actually forgotten what she was going to say)  
O_O ohhhh I left Eiji and Fuji alone with Smith for about 15 months now ... that's bad ... bad moonhera ... bad Lunar Marriage Goddess (that's what my author's name means in its most basic form XD) ...**

**demoncat13:** Therepdfish is only one nurse in that school, it's also unlikely Eiji will tell because that will be going against his 'mother's' wishes ... and that make sense now ...  
**pdfish: **Oh be very careful with that logic, I could easily just do two chapters of the same character. I've done it before and probably will do it again ... and that boy is out of the picture ... currently studying in America or he should be ...  
**walaakongkwenta:** Yeah that was a much bigger review ... I've never seen Yuuta shed tears for his aniki but he does show his concern in the anime verison when Fuji plays against Ayaka ... Also Fuji doesn't have a cactus in England. He has a book on cactus' but no cactus ... he could throw the book, throw it the right way and it does the same damage. As for death of Smith, I don't do death fics ... I just don't ... but outside this story is another matter ... you can tear him to bits ...  
**eijikikumarufan01: **How did I guess you were going to say that about the bear? As I was writing that sentence I knew you were going to reply with something like that ... as for the gun, its farmland country ... Smith could have just been as easily as shooting a pest ... It really is that scattered in Lincolnshire. Lovely place for lots of long walks and bike rides ... I don't have that option of taking Japanese classes, I wish I did, so I have to go on to livemocha and learn through there.  
**ElementalCat:** Awww, nya! Bad school for making elementalcat's day a bad day! Bad school! NYA! I'm glad I made your day!

**Reviews please! Pretty Please! *collapses on keyboard from tiredness***


	34. Chapter 34

Christmas Day had gone and passed without any signs in the Smith household; not the boys minded. Eiji had received yet another teddy bear from Ushio and Fuji had received a digital camera (because it had no use in Ushio' house) to which Fuji was grateful because he was able to take private pictures now without worrying about the school's expensive camera that had been loaned to him. Apart from Smith's Christmas drinking, everything had been quiet and peaceful and slightly lain back in its approach. After drinking several pints of something Smith had gone out, leaving Fuji and Eiji to be able to wander the bottom floor freely. They actually got something near to a dinner this year; Eiji had cooked a meal whilst Fuji had carefully watched, with his camera because he didn't want to go upstairs and have something like last year happen again without him being there. It didn't help that nightmares had plagued his sleep the night before, giving him awful images. But there had been no accident this year, they had eaten a good meal, even if it wasn't a Christmas dinner and for once in a long time they actually laughed within the walls of the Smith household.

It was now two days before the end of the year, and the New Year would start. Fuji sat at his desk in the small room they had looking at his hand, trying to squeeze it in a tight fist to no avail. Although he was able to close his hand quite a way, it wouldn't close all the way ever since his wrist was broken. It looked like it had healed wrong but Fuji wouldn't be telling Eiji this anytime soon, the red head had enough to worry about as they struggled over revising a subject they had been forced to when they entered William Farr. Religious Education studies, they had a mock exam when they were going back. It was a subject where their marks weren't very high because it wasn't taught when they were back in Japan; it didn't even exist as a subject, so thus they struggled to understand some of the meanings of what they were supposed to do in this lesson. All other homework had been done before Christmas, with the idea of leaving this one with the most time. Smith was currently out at yet another pub, probably drowning his insides with cheap beer and alcoholic liquor ready to storm back after he had been kicked out.

Fuji gave a long sigh, looking at the door which lead into the hallway. Smith was upset, very upset. He had been since a couple of days before Christmas when he received a phone call on his private mobile set. He had gone into his study looking fine and surprisingly not drunk and come out looking he was ready to murder several hundred people. Two days after Christmas, on the 27th, Fuji had awoken at the early hours of about 4am in the morning to hear Smith chatting in fluent English with someone else in the hall near the door. He didn't manage to catch any of the conversation because he had only just been drifting out of sleep at that point. All he knew was that the person was in the spare room and Eiji and Fuji hadn't seen him since he arrived three days ago. There had been some heated augments with Smith and the stranger with the male voice to which Eiji and Fuji had wisely decided to keep within in their room out of sight so they couldn't be possibly shouted at unless Smith decided he wanted to. Tennis training had continued uninterrupted but they never saw the stranger.

Fuji looked down at the book full of words telling him about the two different religions he had to study in order to pass the later exam in the ending of the month of May or the beginning of June. The examiners never released that information until much nearer the date. Looking behind at the red head, he could see the boy was having as much trouble as he was, possibly even more. The Christian aspect was possibly easier to understand with the school they were attending being a Christian public school. He could see the red head running his left hand through his hair and clutching the back of it tightly. Fuji winced, it looked painful.

"Eiji, you'll pull all your hair out if you carry on doing that" Fuji said standing from his position and walking over to the boy, gripping the hand that was currently pulling at a part of his hair with his right hand. He couldn't trust himself to be able to keep a firm grip on the acrobatic tennis player shaking hand. Fuji smiled and stood besides Eiji looking down at the boy who gave a long sigh, slipping his hand away so Eiji was able to release his hair and talk to him in a sensible manner.

"Why do we have to do this subject?"

"Because we have to keep our grades up for Uncle Smith, you know mother would be disappointed with us if we let him down. He's done so much for us." Fuji whispered, squeezing Eiji's right shoulder with his right hand, his left hung by his side, still in its support bandage which he now kept hidden in his bag for school and only placed on when he had finished with tennis practice at home.

It was a precautionary measure because it still ached at times, mainly after a long day, although there had been a few times when he had suffered with it at school, one time had been when he had been in the middle of the sports lesson at school. Luckily only Eiji had noticed and managed to get him away before the teachers could ask what was wrong; with the claims of they need to get Eiji's medication because they had forgotten to bring it out. It hurt to lie to the teachers who were so friendly and smiling. It was even harder with their history teacher who happened to be the most hyperactive teacher in the world. One of the best teachers in the world, it was not uncommon to see him jumping on the tables, doing taekwondo in the space in front of his desk which he called his acting class. He even would even leap over the tables to get a book from the other side of the room instead of walking around. It never ceased to amaze Fuji and Eiji how much this man made them smile and made them laugh, even after Smith had arrived drunk at two am in the morning, shooting his gun once again more often than not in the study space; so they didn't need to worry about replacing any of the kitchen things again or one of them had spent a night in the cupboard. When Ushio had told them about the teacher at first, they hadn't believed her but soon it came regarded that Fuji and Eiji most related to the history teacher and Ushio. They were the only ones that Fuji and Eiji would dare give a little insight into their home life, but they didn't say anything about the abuse, believing that they needed to take it for their mother's sake.

"ShuShu. I don't want to do this subject anymore, I wish I could go and see Ushio today. I mean Smith is out and we don't have to care about that guest because he never comes out." Eiji complained in Japanese; crossing his arms on the desk and placing his head on them, staring at the door behind Fuji. Speaking Japanese had become a rarity now after the two boys had 'regained' their 'true' memories.

"Eiji, I know but Ushio is probably busy with family and Uncle Smith wouldn't take us because he would want us to study and practice more. Remember we need to keep up our grades and improve our tennis skills, mother would want that. Uncle Smith is only doing what is best for us."

There was a single knock on the door. Fuji turned and looked at the door mysteriously whilst Eiji behind him sat up straight. Smith never knocked on their door and he was currently out at a pub … so what was … Fuji walked over to the door cautiously and opened it wide to reveal a boy standing there, eyes wide in astonishment when he saw who was standing there. Somewhere in the back of Fuji's and Eiji's mind a bell start to ring wildly, faintly, as they lost all ability to speak for some reason.

"Y… y… you two! What are you doing here?" The boy spluttered stepping back a couple of steps. Finally Fuji regained the ability to speak again.

"Who are you?" he hissed quietly in the quiet of the hallway.

* * *

**YES ANOTHER CLIFFE! It was quite funny typing this because my friend behind me was telling me what she was going to do to Smith with quite vivid detail as I explained some of what he had done ... it involved a red hot poker stick with a spike at one end ... **

**walaakongkwenta:** That chapter will become clear sometime in the clear course of the future ... I promise ... but I can't say anymore than that  
**demoncat13: **Eh? I don't think I said the nurse's name ... Yes Kawamura-san is amazing sometimes ...  
**eijikikumarufan01: **Yeah Oishi probably would have broken if Kawamura had gone, I think everyone needs everyone at the moment, all the support they can get even if they are forgetting. I would like to have that link by the way. Livemocha is a good site ^-^ to some extent  
**ElementalCat: **your getting a lot of favourite chapters

**EVERYONE THAT REVIEWS GET TO PREORDER A CLONE SMITH TO TORTURE!**


	35. Chapter 35

The stranger's face dropped in that of astonishment and disbelief. "M… me? Whom am I?" he asked, repeating Fuji statement. The honey haired colour boy narrowed his eyes before giving a long sigh and stepping backwards behind Eiji placing his right hand on the red head's shoulder in a protective manner.  
"It does not matter." Fuji said softly, not looking at the stranger anymore, the floor was suddenly so much more interesting for some reason. "You are Uncle Smith's guest; therefore we must treat you with respect. What is that you want?" The blonde haired boy spluttered several times, walking into the room and leaning on the door slightly.

"Uncle Smith?" The boy laughed, "Please tell me you're having a joke" he said shaking his head. "No way could you be my cousins, none of your team could be my cousins. Your all way too annoying, only Echizen could provide a challenge for me." The boy looked annoyed as a piece of blonde hair fell across his eyes and he blew it out of his way as Fuji and Eiji looked at the stranger confused.

"Cousins?" Eiji asked softly looking at Fuji, who was puzzling over the thoughts in his head, had Smith mentioned before that they had cousins … had their mother … he couldn't remember. Maybe he just forgot after the funeral and hadn't remembered yet … "I don't understand. I can't remember having any cousins" Eiji said biting his lip. "What was your name?" he asked clutching hold of Fuji's hand on his shoulder tightly.

"You don't even remember that?" The blonde hair strange, who was much young looking than Fuji and Eiji crossed his arms looking slightly smug. "I'm Kevin Smith, Smith Kevin whatever. I played in the American tournaments, same as you two did."

"You played against Shusuke and me?" Eiji asked, Fuji seemed to have lost all ability to speak at this point in time. Kevin's eyes opened even wider than they had been and it was easy to see the grey blue eyes were full of confusion and increasing astonishment.

"Is this a joke? I mean my father's not in if you're scared of him and all your friends are waiting back in Japan for you …"

"What friends?" the red head asked, scared and equally confused. Kevin spluttered once again, coughing half way through much to Eiji's alarm who jolted from his seat and gently hit the boy on the back for a small while until Kevin waved him off, taking the seat where Eiji had jolted from. Eiji stood in the open doorway tilting his head as Kevin's coughing fit ceased, leaving him able to breathe. "Do you want me to get you some water?" Eiji asked tilting his head to his side briefly in concern. Kevin waved his hand and gave a long sigh leaning back in the chair and staring up at the ceiling.

"I keep in contact with Echizen over emails and he told me about your kidnapping …"

"What kidnapping? Uncle Smith took us ..."

"Shut up! He's not your uncle!" Kevin snapped at Eiji whom took a step back and earned a glare from Fuji for doing such a thing. "He's not your uncle. He's never been to Japan at all apart from last year and he's an only child." Kevin stated in a clenched tone of annoyance. "You two disappeared from a camp which was for the under 17 tournament and haven't reappeared since, then your friend Momoshiro also disappeared was and found at a cabin a week which you apparently had also been held captive however you two had already disappeared." Kevin was about to ask the sarcastic question of 'ring any bells?' but he could see from their faces that nothing was settling in; although there had been the possible flicker in Fuji's eyes then again it could have been the lighting in the cramped room.

Leaping up Kevin pointed directly at Fuji. "You, your name is Fuji Shusuke."

"Its not, its Smith Shu…" Kevin twirled and interrupted the red head halfway through his sentence.

"And your name is Kikumaru Eiji. You have this annoying go lucky happy attitude all the time with a mentality of a four year old."

"Nya? A four year old?"

"Yes! And you say that annoying noise all the time."

"What annoying noise?" Eiji was thoroughly confused by this time, it was just making his head hurt.

"That nya-ing sound!" Kevin said glaring at that the red head. The next action took the American tennis player by shock though when Eiji looked around outside in the hallway and covered his mouth with both hands shaking his head.

"ShuShu" he whispered and Fuji came up to besides Eiji and the honey coloured hair boy wrapped the red head in a firm hug. Kevin just looked confused again as Fuji sent a glare at Kevin again from where Eiji was burying his head into Fuji's chest.

"What the heck?" Kevin asked throwing his hands up into the air. Eiji looked over at Kevin after a few moments, well at the space besides Kevin. The acrobatic tennis player couldn't decide on what to believe, the names that Kevin had mentioned had sent shivers down his spine and the sense of urgency and secrecy had over come him, especially at the name of Momoshiro.

"Uncle Smith …"

"Stop calling him that!"

"Uncle Smith dislikes it when I make that noise. It says it annoys him." Eiji didn't reveal that afterwards Smith had gotten drunk and locked Eiji in the cupboard that night.

"Well it is annoying but … but … you need to say it … it's just you" Kevin said trying to explain it in a way that would get through to the red head without upsetting him.

Kevin paced up and down the room as much as he could, which was a small amount seeing how tiny the room was, it was even smaller than some of the rooms he had been in and he had his experience of small rooms. He looked back at Eiji who was still wrapped firmly in Fuji's arms but now was staring at Kevin instead of the floor.

"Your name is Kikumaru Eiji. You form one of the half of the Japan national double team called the Golden Pair; your partner is called Oishi. You are a net player who specialises in acrobatic play." Kevin paused trying to think of what else Echizen had put on that email when they had been talking about Fuji and Eiji and what he could remember from the American tournament. "You also like hugging people and calling Echizen ochibi." He muttered, why had that information been on the email? Shrugging it off he pointed at Fuji.

"Your name is Fuji Shusuke. You are called the tensai in the Seigaku regulars. You some kind of counters to certain types of balls, I think one was called a bear drop or something ..." Kevin trailed off; there had been a lot less information on Fuji than Eiji. "Oh yeah you smile a lot and you are the only who likes Inui's juices" he said, wondering who the heck Inui was. He had heard from Ryoma that Inui was known in the Seigaku regulars for his nasty juices which often had people collapsing or running off the courts to the nearest bathroom. Kevin was kind of glad that he hadn't met the guy in training; the way one of his drinks was described Echizen had made him shiver. Taking a step back Kevin looked at them both.

"When you play doubles together you are called the dream pair because you trust each other that much you don't need each other to lead the game etc. Fuji you specialise in single play however you have been paired with someone called Kawamura for doubles as well. Kikumaru you can play singles, however you excel in doubles and like I said before you play with Oishi and you have played with Momoshiro as well." He tried to see if they gave a reaction to that final piece of information and could see without problems that although there might have been a flicker of something there, just a possibility, it had been quickly wiped out, if it even existed. "Damn it! Why are you being so stubborn? Has my father done something to you? Well has he?"

Eiji shivered in Fuji's arms which tightened even further around him. Kevin was scaring the red head and all of a sudden when an opportunity arose to tell someone about Smith, he couldn't do it. Eiji was thinking that he had to be respectful towards their mot…

"Our mother would only want us to be respectful and gracious towards Uncle Smith for looking after us before she died and after she died. We have to honour her wishes even if he punishes us; we have to accept it in her memory." Fuji said, as if it was matter of fact Kevin was visibly getting stressed and the recent statement had not helped the matter. Briefly Eiji wondered if Kevin's temper was as bad as his father's and decided he didn't want to continue down that train of thoughts.

"Let's try it this way then. Where's your mother buried?"

"She was cremated in Sapporo in the Hokkaidō Prefecture" Fuji replied, "It's where we were born and where our house used to be."  
"Do you remember the funeral?" Kevin asked trying to get to a point where Fuji would have to pause and think about it, hopefully causing some doubt.

"We both lost our memories of our family life after our mother's death and only have started getting them back. Our mother's funeral is one memory we have yet to recover." Fuji replied in a monotone voice. Eiji could only listen from his position. Kevin clutched his hair in frustration.

"You're both the same age"

"We're twins."

"You look nothing alike."

"We are non-identical twins"

"GAH!" The monotone and automated replies were driving Kevin crazy until an idea struck him and he pulled out his phone, scanning through the memory card. Fuji raised an eyebrow but quickly lowered it before Kevin could see it. Kevin then turned the phone and pushed it in front of Fuji who had to take a step back because Kevin had shoved it very close in his attempt to make Fuji look at it. It was a picture of some people in causal clothes.

"Look at it! Tell me you don't recognize these people. You're in that picture!" Kevin snapped, he had got that picture from Echizen and had planned to delete it from his phone but always forgot, now he was glad he had forgot each time. Fuji frowned and Eiji leant closer to look at it. Sure enough there was them in the picture, but there were also seven other people.

"The mountain, the sunrise" Fuji murmured before shaking his head. Eiji looked up at Fuji and so did Kevin.

"What did you say?" Kevin asked softly, Fuji shook his head again. There was no way they could know these people, but somehow they were ringing bells in his head, way too many bells to make sense of, it was going to drive him crazy with their ringing. Kevin put the phone away looking at Eiji who had not made a sound during any of that. He remembered from watching that one match that Eiji had been very hyperactive, not quiet and controlled like he was here.

"Okay, okay. Think" he hissed to himself with his back turned to the two boys who were currently very lost and confused. Kevin then smacked himself with his right hand and turned back. "You two are supposed to respect my father correct?" both boys nodded at the same time. "So in theory you are supposed to respect me correct?" Another nod and Kevin gave a sigh, "right then. So you will do what I ask without fighting?"

"Yes. What are you wanting to do Kevin?" Fuji asked, the name felt heavy on his tongue, like he hadn't said it in a long time but they had a Kevin in school and when Fuji had said his name it never felt like this.

"I've watched you. I've watched my father get drunk and you standing there taking every single stupid blow. I've seen you be delicate with your wrist Fuji" Eiji stepped back out of Fuji's embrace looking at his left hand, which suddenly disappeared behind Fuji's back out of sight. "You treat it with care. I've watched Kikumaru having to inject himself with something." It was Fuji's turn to stare at Eiji.  
"When was that?" Fuji asked, interrupting Kevin's flow and voice completely. Eiji looked at his feet.

"Two days ago, just after lunch." He whispered, "I'm sorry ShuShu I didn't want to worry you and it was only a minor attack."  
"Attack?" Kevin asked, frowning but was completely ignored.

"You didn't tell me Eiji. You didn't even come and rest. You know what Doctor Fraser said!"

"But you didn't tell me about your wrist or that it was still that bad. You said it was getting better! It's not got any better has it?" Eiji said grabbing hold of Fuji's left hand somehow from behind Fuji's back and pressing into a loose fist form, to which Fuji hissed in pain and pulled it away. "You can't even close it can you?" Eiji said, there were tears cascading down his face now, it was clear to Kevin that Eiji and Fuji were a lot tighter than Echizen had mentioned in his emails.

"I didn't want to worry you Eiji" Fuji said, pulling Eiji into a tight hug. "I was just worried about you" he whispered and gently kissed the top of the red head's hair as Eiji buried his face into Fuji's right shoulder.

Kevin could only watch in shock, astonishment and horror. "I really need to get you two out of here" he whispered to himself, an idea forming in his head. It was clear that the red head and honey coloured hair boy was breaking and Kevin wasn't sure if he left it for much longer they would be able to survive. But he couldn't go directly into a police station and tell the police that Fuji and Kikumaru were two different boys to what he was saying. They would never believe him. Pulling out his phone from his pocket again, he started to type out to one of his friends who lived in Japan who was named BF on his phone. Kevin decided he needed to move fast. He would deal with the minor details, like his father later.

* * *

**That picture I was talking about in this scene was when they went hiking, so they were able to go and see the sunrise together as a group in episode 73 of the anime. ^-^ And most people guessed correctly that is was Kevin and BF is in this chapter! Well mentioned ... sorry if Kevin seems OOC but I don't know that character very well ...**  
**8 reviews for the last chapter? Wow, thats the most I've ever had. And they are all from amazing reviewers! (I'm happy because I got my Kikumaru Eiji pillow today nya! ^-^ and its comfy)**

**Melodious Flurry:** hmmmm ... I think they might be going home but they might not be ...  
**ElementalCat:** *watches jumping around* your as bad as Momo with jumping and yes it is Kevin  
**eijikikumarufan01:** My friend's plan was good up until the point where she started wanting to kill me as well. As for those questions, I revealed who it was at the door and I am not answering if it's Kevin or not I need to appear before I can start conculding the story ...  
**yume229:** Eh, yeah I'm supposed to be studying as well but never mind! Nya! I am doing creative stuff, I have to explore my creative side for my writing  
**BF: **Just so I can make you appear in another chapter, are you wanting to be a male character or female? Lol at never been so happy to see Kevin and Fuji will probably need the wrist re-snapping which could be fun because there might also possible be permentant damage ...  
**walaakongkwenta: **Well, Kevin turned up, there is the possiblity that Seigaku might get together again! I think Kevin slightly untangled the mess and then retangled it again ... and yes the mind is very powerful. I've known my own mind to block things that is too painful for me to remember ... There is one incident which only took place just over one year ago and made a big impact on my life, but my mind has blocked most of what has happened over a short period of time. A few months actually ... I have to think really hard to get even a few images in my head.  
**demoncat13: **Nya! I didn't mean to say that, it's just pdfish is another reviewer. I must have pressed ctrl+v by accident. Oopies ... nya. Oh well ... and yes Kevin shows up  
**pdfish: **This is what I meant by suddenly changing it from being one set of characters to another, I did Eiji and Fuji two chapters! So watch out for that if you deciding to read every two chapters. As for memories ... erm still iffy.

**REVIEWS PLEASE! I love looking at everyone's reviews! They make me so happy!**


	36. Chapter 36

Kawamura frowned when he heard the ringing of the bell which had the private entrance to the back of the restaurant and the flat. It was now three weeks into the month of January and for the last two weeks he had been experiencing some strange things at school which he couldn't explain. His father, mother and sister had moved a couple of days after the New Year and most people in his class knew that he was home alone basically due to the fact that Kawamura Sushi didn't open anymore. There had been a big celebration of Kawamura's father success the day before he moved and the Sushi restaurant had taken in more orders in that night than it got in a period of two weeks. Kawamura and his father had been very busy that night and even his mother and sister had managed to help with it, which had been a great help. Anyway, two weeks ago, he had been asked by someone that had been in his class, someone whom Kawamura had met when entering high school and then had been transferred to a different school. She had asked him over the phone if it was possible for him to accommodate a small group of people for a while. It had been an unusual request but he had complied because he trusted her and she often gave some strange requests, like asking to be called BF instead of her full name for unknown reasons.

So at the time of 10pm at night on the designated night had come the ringing of the bell. BF had been unclear and unable to say what time the group would be coming and hadn't been able to give any details, promising it would be explained to him. Sighing he pushed himself away from the table and walked down the stairs to the door. He pulled it open to reveal a somewhat familiar face of Kevin Smith; there had been a lot more contact with other teams, including the American Team, after the kidnapping. "Smith-san" Kawamura said in surprise, the blonde hair American was more in contact with Echizen than anyone else. Behind Kevin stood two figures whose figures where unclear due to the lack of light. "What are you doing here?" he asked softly. Kevin frowned looking at the two figures behind him before staring back at Kawamura.

"Did you get a phone call from BF?" he asked softly. Kawamura nodded wondering how Kevin also knew BF.

"Yes she said to expect a group. Are you …" Kawamura was now more than confused, what the heck was going on here? Kevin only gave a nod in answer as Kawamura stepped aside to let the group in. The two strangers behind Kevin had their hoods on the back of their coats over their head. Kawamura did a quick look outside whilst the two strangers and Kevin changed their shoes in the genkan, surprised by the fact it was snowing; quiet heavily actually. How did he miss that? Shaking his head, he closed the door and walked up the stairs to the small living area.

He did not expect to see what he could regard as a miracle and he almost fell down the stairs again, only to catch himself by grabbing one of the walls and pushing himself forwards. "Fuji, Eiji" he whispered, his eyes wide in shock. His voice distracted the red head who turned around, and quickly scooted up next to Fuji who looked at the red head and placed his left arm firmly around Eiji when he saw Kawamura. Kawamura frowned; he couldn't remember Eiji being silent or meek and Fuji had reacted in such a protective way over Eiji like he was telling Kawamura not to hurt Eiji. Neither had said anything yet. "Fuji, Eiji" Kawamura said again in a gentle tone, adopting the type you would use when you saw a scared young hurt animal and you wanted to get closer to it. Behind the two boys back he saw Kevin shaking his head firmly and Kawamura gave a sigh in return.

"Do you have those rooms available?" Kevin said trying to break the iciness of the room and also so he could talk to Kawamura. Kawamura nodded, since his parents had moved out he had taken over the master bedroom as on their wishes, leaving the two other rooms free, one of which on BF's instructions had two futons lain out. Kawamura pointed to the later room.

"That room has two futons lain out" Kevin gave a stiff nod and looked at Eiji and Fuji carefully. Kawamura watched from the background trying to figure out what was wrong with his two friends as they picked up a large sport size bag each. Fuji still had his left arm around Eiji and Kawamura noticed something strange about his hand … it was …

"Kevin, are you sure Uncle Smith wants us to do this?" Eiji asked quietly, breaking Kawamura from his trail of thoughts. Kevin nodded his head and Fuji gave a long sigh before turning to the room they had been designated and taking Eiji with him and disappeared quickly behind the closing door. Kawamura gave a long question look towards Kevin when the door clicked shut, which was full of questions and concerns. The blonde hair boy looked away at the floor before walking over and nodding towards the stairs leading down into the now closed restaurant.

"I'll tell you down there, I'd rather do it where they can't hear." He whispered, nodding at the door. Kawamura just started down the stairs, not wanting to waste anymore time. He felt the need to know why his friends just didn't recognize him at all. Sitting on one of the high stools, he could only contain his anxiety as Kevin hopped up onto the one next to him before he started questioning the boy. He began with the most anxious question on his mind.

"What's wrong with them?" Kevin looked startled by the direct bluntness of the question but gave a long sigh leaning back and reaching into a small black carrying bag he had brought down with him. He pulled out two passports and a few official looking documents before handing them across to Kawamura. The elder started looking through the papers with shock and disbelief clearly registering.

"My father doesn't know that they are here. He thinks that they've gone a school trip for about three weeks and that I went home to America. He didn't know that I knew about Kikumaru and Fuji so he felt safe in letting me come over. They think that they are here, and so does the school they go to in England, because Smith wants them to experience Tyoko's busy tennis culture and make a name for themselves here."

"Their names aren't Smith" Kawamura said in disbelief and shock evident in his voice.

"I know and I've already tried explaining that to them." Kevin scowled; that had not been a fun conversation.

"What do you mean?" Kawamura asked looking up. Kevin bit his lip.

"I don't know what's happened but they seem to have some kind of amnesia and think that all the events in their lives are actually what is recorded in those documents you have in front of you. If they have a piece of memory missing it's because they supposedly lost their memories after their mother's death."  
"They didn't even recognize me." Kawamura said softly with a sad twinge to the end.

"I showed them a picture of you all but nothing seemed to have registered with them apart from Fuji who murmured something but then he dismissed it like it was nothing. I was going to try and get a flat to rent for a small while, money was no matter because I get a share of my father's company profits, but when BF suggested that you had space in your house we both thought that it might bring something back. We thought seeing someone who they spent some of their life with … I guess we were wrong." Kevin muttered to himself, "I can't go to a police station because how would I explain to them that oh these are the boys that went missing but they believe they are someone not and have false memories. Oh and here are the documents that look legal enough to get them into an English school." Kevin looked over to see Kawamura's mortified face; the power player was clearly unable to speak.

"Look, I can't take them back to my father or Uncle Smith as they call him. I can't. I watched him abuse them and both of them are hurt or ill." Kawamura looked even more mortified by that news.

"Ill? Hurt? Abused?" the elder asked in an almost strangled sound of voice. Kevin nodded his head; wondering how to break the details to him lightly and in a way that wouldn't make Kawamura pass out.

"He used tennis racket frames to beat them, doesn't matter if it's just a point they miss or the whole game. He used to lock them in a cupboard if he got upset with them and there is no way to get them out because he takes the key into his own room. Apparently Kikumaru developed some kind of illness not this Christmas just gone but the year before and has to inject himself whenever an attack happens. I'm not so clear on it, it has a long name I can't pronounce and I don't know how it happens or what happens." Kevin leant back and stared at the ceiling. "Fuji has something wrong with his left wrist; if you watch him he is extra careful about it. According to Kikumaru it was broken last summer and hasn't healed properly." Sneaking a glance at Kawamura he could see the power player was having problems with digesting the information. With a sigh he crossed his arms on the counter before him. "Look, I'm going to take them around to their houses and see if the appearance of their families and homes will trigger anything. I got their address from Echizen. No one apart from you that lives here knows that Fuji and Kikumaru are in Japan and I want to keep that way. It was a precautionary measure encase they didn't recognize you. I don't want to bring anyone else's hopes up. In the mean time I want you to try and see if you can retrigger something. I don't have as much information on them as you do."

Kevin hopped from the stool and looked at Kawamura, "I'm going to get some sleep and start tomorrow. Did I spot my room was next to Fuji's and Kikumaru's?" Kawamura nodded as Kevin started back up the stairs. "I'll let you look at those documents, I couldn't bring everything from my father's study but hopefully that will be enough to give you an idea of what memories they think they have at the moment." Kawamura stared back at them as Kevin disappeared into the flat above. They all screamed the words of lies and false at him, Kevin's words on how Eiji and Fuji were ill or hurt still echoing in his head. The amount of words of abuse that he wanted to throw at Kevin's father was unbelievable. Slowly Kawamura looked up to where he knew the room were Eiji and Fuji were probably getting ready to sleep, wishing that he could see through walls. They seemed so changed.

* * *

**Nya! This took ages because my computer kept being a pain. lol, I've just seen what could possibly be the most deadliest room choice in the world ... what ever gave Takeshi Konomi the idea to put Fuji, Yukimaru and Shiraishi in the same dorm room? That's almost like asking the world to end! (unless you happen to be Yuuta XD) They all encourage each other ...**

**Sherlockdetective99:** WOOP! New reviewer! Hello! Thanks for the compliment! Oh my, that's the first time someone has told that they will kill me on this story ... apart from my friend ... but don't worry I won't drop it unless something major happens ... and I mean major ... I can still write chapters even if my hands aren't working (XD I love my laptop gadgets sometimes)  
**Midori-Emmi: **WOOPIE! Another new reviewer! NYA! I'm glad you like my story! And my chapters are that length because I wouldn't be able to do them in one night otherwise and I could end up dropping the story because I can't handle a huge length of chapter.  
**BF: **Nope, permanent damage is not fun. I didn't realise the last chapter was funny until you said it ... and you appear in this chapter as a phone contact ... and a friend of Smith and Kawamura's!  
**yume229:** Yeppie! Kevin found them and took them back to Japan but it seems problems have arose.  
**ElementalCat: **I'm glad you liked it! And YAY! More Kikumaru-fics!  
**eijikikumarufan01: **Well surprisingly enough, Kevin might become more likeable but that's only because I don't know him that well ... so he's like mine to play with and yes, Eiji and Fuji need to get rid of those false memories somehow ...  
**demoncat13: **Ryoma wouldn't be able to buy them airplane tickets, and it would be bringing Ryoma's hopes up and Kevin would only have to watch them crash ...

**YES! Eiji and Fuji return to Japan but will they be able to gain their memories back before Coach Smith realises whats happened and comes and gets them ... Remember, he has contacts in the school, friendly contacts ... REVIEWS PLEASE!**


	37. Chapter 37

It was noticeable to most people at the early morning practice but they had left until after school to see if it was just a morning thing, it didn't seem that way right now. It had not been clear at first; it steadily became noticeable when they were practicing. The glances over his shoulder towards the school gates, the buchou having to repeat everything twice, the lack of change when he picked up the racket and more the most noticeable thing was that he wasn't returning any of the balls that were served at him nor was he serving within the time period allowed. It was slightly amusing for Oishi as he was winning the match which would normally prove difficult against the power player but it was also concerning at the same time.

"Taka-san, I'm going to win this match with this next ball if you don't start playing," the score was currently 5 games love with forty points on Oishi's serve. The tall power player was jerked back from where ever he had been and gave a long frown seemingly consternating on the ball but without the occasional out bursts of English from the power player it was all for nothing as Oishi won the match with a gentle underhand serve that most people should have been able to get without problems. Oishi let his shoulders sag slightly as he walked around the net, to stand next to the power player.

"Taka-san" he asked, placing his left hand on the boy's shoulder. "Taka-san are you okay?" he asked again after the first question obviously went in one ear and out the other. However the next question did catch his attention and bring Kawamura down from wherever he seemed to like wandering off to this morning and during this practice as well.

"Huh? Did you say something Oishi?" Kawamura said startled by the sudden presence of nearly everyone on the regulars looking at him, how had he not noticed that? He had been so distracted since the appearance of Eiji and Fuji only yesterday evening and how much it had almost broken him that they just didn't remember him. He had lain out pictures of the times that they had been spent together or on the Seigaku regulars around the flat, hoping something would inspire something in them. He had slid a message and a spare key to the flat under Kevin's door before he left this morning for school, saying to contact him if there were any problems to leave a message on his mobile. He had found himself constantly checking in class every ten minutes to see if there were any new messages, half hoping there would be so he could excuse himself and go and see if he could do anything more for Fuji and Eiji, yet half of him was hoping not because it could mean something terrible had happened. The time spent doing tennis practice was the longest he had gone without checking his phone for any new messages.

He watched as Oishi raised an eyebrow and Kawamura felt the racket being taken from his grip. He looked surprised; had he been holding a racket? He couldn't remember anything at all about this tennis practice.

"Let's go Taka-san" Oishi said placing his left arm around the boy's shoulders and lead him towards where the tall first year captain stood arms crossed. Kawamura bowed his head quickly in a way of an apology. "Tezuka Buchou" Oishi called out to direct the attention of the stoic faced boy towards their way. "I think Taka-san should probably go home, he hasn't been himself."  
"Gomen" Kawamura said softly.

"Be on your form tomorrow Kawamura. Dismissed" was all the reply that Kawamura got and it was all he need to dart off from the court, leaving Oishi behind on the courts holding his racket. He grabbed hold of his school bag as soon as he could and pulled out the little mobile phone that had been given to him by his parents as a leaving present. His face fell into a frown when he saw a single message had been left only a couple of minutes ago and the time it was. He didn't realise that so much of the day had already passed without his knowledge. Opening the text, he paled at the message that was placed out before him.

'You didn't tell me that the Kikumaru house was empty!' Loud and clear, Kawamura could almost imagine Kevin shouting those words to him. He mentally kicked himself, how could he forget that the house was empty? The family had been gone long enough.

He didn't realise there was another person in the room until he looked back and Oishi was standing within reading distance of the text, i.e. straight over his shoulder.

"Oishi!" he said, placing a shaking hand over his wildly beating heart.

"Gomen Taka-san; I was going to return your racket to you and you weren't answering. I didn't mean to read the text." Oishi explained holding up Kawamura's racket. There was an awkward silence as Oishi went over to Kawamura's open tennis bag on the bench and placed the racket inside. Kawamura didn't know what to say and Oishi was the one who broke the silence. "Why do you need to get inside the Kikumaru house?" the vice-captain didn't look back at the power player. Kawamura rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Erm … well …" in that moment he was seriously tempted to tell Oishi about Fuji's and Eiji's return even though Kevin's words echoed in the back of his head. However that moment passed and the temptation was gone. "I kind of left something there which I really need now my parents have moved out and I asked one of my friends to get it, but I forgot when telling them that the family have moved." Oishi seemed relieved after that explanation and turned back to face Kawamura.

"How badly do you need this thing?" He asked giving a brief flash of a smile. Kawamura found himself thinking of how badly he wanted his friends to give genuine smiles again; well maybe not from Tezuka that boy ever changed his facial expression. To hear them all laugh and enjoy tennis as a team once more. Echizen, Momoshiro and Kaidoh had informed them that they were all applying to stay on to the high school section. Kawamura gave a shrug indicating a so-so kind of answer.

"I thought they told you that they left a spare key hidden in the outhouse." Kawamura looked surprised, he had forgotten about that as well! Eiji's and Fuji's return must have really blown it out of him. Kawamura bowed and grabbed his stuff quickly.

"Thank you Oishi!" he called as he hurried out and away from the tennis clubroom, busily texting Kevin about the spare key. Maybe something in the house would reignite something; he remembered that Fuji and Eiji used to spend a lot of time at each other's house and when the Kikumaru family had moved, Yuuta had said that they had left a lot of Eiji's things behind in his room.

* * *

**Hmmmm tired again ... how am I so tired this weekend? Gah and it doesn't help that Fanfiction is being a pain (it's basically coming up with an error if I try and click on this story in my stories), oh well I found a way around it. Hope this is okay as a chapter, its a bit smaller than most ... so so tired ... going to sleep after this ...**

**eijikikumarufan01:** I think Oishi would probably the worst effected in the regulars and Eiji doesn't have a chance to see his mum :( I have a good idea for the next chapter though ... and it won't be pretty ... and it's up to you whether or not you like Kevin. I don't particularly like him but he was the most handy character avaliable.  
**Midori-Emmi:** It's not so hard to forget something you've known for your whole life. If your mind registers you are in danger if you remember thinking about things then it will find a way to make sure you can't remember. It's happened to me on a few occassions. What kind of apocalypse by the way? XP  
**yume229: **Next chapter up for you! I don't know about what to do with Smith yet ... he may reappear ...  
**ElementalCat:** Yep, your a real life personality like Momoshiro ... I've decided ...  
**demoncat13: **No you cannot. I may still need him for this story and if you kill him now then you won't be letting the regulars have their share of wanting to kill him ... especially Momo, Oishi and Yuuta (I know he isn't a regular but never mind)

**Reviews please ... and I am going to fall asleep at my computer ... Oyasumi Nasai **


	38. Chapter 38

It was only meant to be a walk to clear his head, away from the family, away from school life which was burdening him so much. It had been another disappointing start to the year and in Yuuta's mind it could only get worse. Another Christmas spent with his family sitting on the sofas, drinking tea and not speaking. His sister locked in her room out of sight, she had tried getting on with her life, and Yuuta knew that. There had been a twinge of excitement in her voice when she had spoken about the new boyfriend that she had taken an interest in about July the year before, and had been asked out in November. But, according to his parents as he wasn't there at the time, all he did was pity her, so she had broken up with him and fallen back into her depressed attitude. Yuuta himself had been treated like a piece of delicate art at St Rudolph's by the teachers and fellow classmates, there seemed to feel like there was a large space around him which more than not having to be filled with members of the tennis team who hadn't moved up and on to the high school.

Lost in his own thoughts, he wasn't thinking on where he was going in general fact. He had just escaped St Rudolph's for a while, and he was able to keep somewhat of an eye on what was in front of him. He could hear the cars driving past him at high speeds and he knew he was walking one of the more popular routes of the shopping centre. People were as usually skilful dodging the boy, whilst talking on their phone or chatting to their friend, so no one really had the time to pay attention to the fact that there was a middle school student walking in school hours down the middle of the pavement. He was happy that way until he actually bumped into someone and it was more embarrassing the fact that he fell over on his back instead of the other person. Grumbling to himself about the how the person probably wouldn't even notice and try and help him up, Yuuta rubbed the back of his head and jerked back in surprise when he saw a hand come into view of his face. It was out stretched and frowning Yuuta followed the arm up to the owner of the face.

Giving a startled yell he scrambled backwards and pushed himself up from the pavement. Standing there with clear blue eyes open, a tilt to his head with a bit of confusion mixed in stood his own brother. Yuuta took only a few seconds to take in the rest of his brother. Fuji's left hand was hanging by his right side, a long sleeved shirt slid over some of it. There was a definite thinner tone to his body, which was not good as he had been most certainly slender before he had even kidnapped. The boy who stood before Yuuta was most certainly Fuji without a doubt.

"Are you alright? I didn't mean to bump into you" came the smooth gentle tone, which could have been associated with that of someone comforting a soul, but for Yuuta it was like the bells were going off inside his head. Yuuta scrambled for that retreating hand, holding it tightly.

"Aniki?" he asked, his voice breaking half way through the word. It was Fuji's turn to look startled and shocked, although Yuuta only took this as a good thing. All that was really going through his mind was about the fact that Fuji was standing there right in front of him and he wasn't about to let go.

"Excuse me. I need to go." Fuji protested; his face was set with alarm and fright as he tried pulling his hand away and much to his success he managed after several tries. That time was short lived as Yuuta grabbed hold of Fuji's left wrist and pulled out his mobile phone quickly. He thought that the wrist felt slightly chunkier but that thought was short lived. He could feel the tugging and pulling in an attempt to get out of the grip but did not think much on it, as he was more busy instructing his sister to come and collect him as both their parents were out. Keeping a tight firm grip on Fuji's wrist, he flicked the mobile phone shut and placed it back in his pocket.  
"Yumiko said she would pick us up at the park." Yuuta said, tugging Fuji along oblivious to the elder boy's pain and discomfort, he just didn't realise that he was pulling on Fuji's bad wrist. In Yuuta's mind he was much too eager to get home so he could shout at his brother for leaving them in such a state of depression and be able to take out his anger and know his brother would comfort him.

All Fuji could do was follow, if he tried to protest he would stop walking and then there would be a large tug on his wrist. He didn't know this strange person who had determination written across his face but he did know that he wanted to get back Eiji. He had only wanted to walk outside for a small while, not far, just up and down the street to get a breath of fresh air. There was a familiar aura about the streets they went down, or was pulled down, and a familiar tone to the voice of the stranger. Fuji realised then that this person wasn't completely a stranger, he had seen him on some of the pictures that had been spread out across the apartment, not many but some. It had been two days ago that they had watched the house and been inside the other one. They had only time to explore the ground floor because Kevin had pulled them out after a short time and as they were walking away Fuji could have sworn to see a black haired, with two hanging pieces of hair, person step into the front garden. Kevin had made them spend yesterday looking at the pictures. Fuji daren't question Kevin's actions but secretly he wondered what this had to do with his and Eiji's tennis skills. A quirk jerk to his wrist, as he realised they had been standing waiting for the green man so they could cross, sent shivers of pain up his arms and he gave a quiet hiss of pain through clenched teeth but brought him back to reality.

As they crossed the road, a black iron bearing sign stood over what Fuji presumed to the entrance to the park, to the front a large car park had been built. There were a few cars there; the stranger seemed to be tugging him along to a red car where a woman stood with sunglasses covering her eyes.

"Excuse me but I need to get back." Fuji said, feeling a sense of cold wash over him, not a stinging type of cold feeling but that of what you needed when you were really hot. He tried removing the stranger's hand from his wrist without tugging on his own arm. "Please" he said with a desperate tone to his voice.

"Shusuke?" a whispered voice floated into his senses and Fuji turned to see who had made it. The woman who had been standing by the red car was now standing next to Yuuta. Fuji tried to take a step back but couldn't due to Yuuta holding his wrist still. 'How does she know my name?' He thought to himself looking around for a way to escape.

"See I told you!" the stranger that had bumped into him was now speaking to the strange woman.

"I didn't not believe you," came the soothing voice of the woman.

"Are mum and dad home?"

"No, but they should be in about 15 minutes."

"Nee-san, please let's go. I want to cheer them up," Fuji was lost half way through that conversation and so it was only when he felt a painful tug on his arm that he realised he was being lead into the car.

"Please! I need to get back!" Fuji tried to protest to no avail, as no one was listening, caught up in their own world as he was almost placed in the back seat. 'I'm sorry Eiji' he thought as within less than a space of a minute, the red car was already on the road heading somewhere. Holding his left wrist protectively, he wanted to curl up to protect himself from the two strange people.

* * *

**You will have to excuse me for this chapter ... I am very tired, its now 5:40am in the morning. Gomen nasai if this is bad ... ahhhhhhh no Tuti! T_T watching a show called *pnish* and its got two Tenimyu first cast characters I like (Tenimyu is the prince of Tennis musicial, brilliant piece of work. Go and watch it, its amazing. Anyway first cast is my favourite! ^-^ best cast ever), anyway *pnish* did a parody thingy of 'Little Women' a book i have read many times and Tuti played the character that becomes seriously ill with scarlet fever T_T (and he looks cute as a girl ... how the hell does that happen?) **

**demoncat13: **lol. As for character personalities ... I don't know ... I only placed her as momo because of all the jumping she does and general hyperness in her reviews.  
**eijikikumarufan01: **Oishi nearly caught them in this chapter ... and yeah your idea helped with this chapter.  
**ElementalCat: **No, there might be a bit of Fuji but more Momo. Yeah sorry, might redo that chapter sometime in the future ...  
**yume229: **Why Kawamura? Oishi would break down and be almost unrepairable, Inui would probably try and posion them with Inui juice, Tezuka would probably scare Kevin out of his skin, Kaidoh, Momo and Echizen are in middle school and would probably find it difficult to comprehend with. Kawamura has a flat to himself and he's probably got one of the strongest personalities in the whole thing  
**Midori-Emmi:** Woah, thank you for the compliment. Don't worry your not the only one who felt that way about that chapter, it will probably get redone when I go through this at the end. And updated for you!  
**BF: **Its a pain, I tell you that for nothing, been this way since Saturday actually and no its still not sorted itself out ... Anyway Yuuta wasn't around the houses but he did bump into Fuji in this chapter ... quite literally (ignore that last pun on literally).

**Three votes in your reviews please tonight! **

**1) Should I write an Eiji chapter first or go straight to Fuji's house?**  
**2) How do you think Fuji should react and behave when he sees his parents?**  
**3) How do you think Fuji's parents will react and behave to seeing him and seeing the way he is behaving?**

**So Reviews Please!**


	39. Chapter 39

All he had wanted to do was run out of the door, away from everyone but there was that constant pressure on his right wrist stopping him from doing so. The elder woman had drawn up in the car next to the house that Kevin had made Fuji view two days ago but this time he was seemingly being forced to go inside of it. The stranger who had bumped into him had almost pulled him out of the car, the woman seemed to be intent on saying his name, which scared and shook him to the core of his very being. It only increased his desperation to get back to Eiji. He had only wanted to go out for a breath of fresh air! He had also wanted to look for some tennis courts, as it had felt weird not playing tennis for several days in a row. It had been one of the things that Smith had insisted on doing everyday, no matter what time they started or what time they finished, Eiji and he would play tennis. In the current instance of being dragged from near the flat they had been staying in to a house which he had been viewing two days ago; Fuji had decided that coming to Japan had been a very bad idea.

Now he was standing in what he presumed was the living room of the house, the boy stranger holding his wrist. Fuji guessed his name was Yuuta from the way the woman was telling him to calm down and vice versa her name seemed to be Yumiko. After showing some resistance to not wanting to go into the house, Yuuta had taken it on himself to pull Fuji in by his wrist. Luckily he had avoided his left wrist and that was how he was effectively trapped in the house, not helped by the knowledge that even if he did run then he would be lost on the streets. Although the smell was pleasant in this room, the smell of freshly baking things was slowly making its way across the kitchen. Someone had obviously cooking, however the person did not seem to be in the house as all the noise he could hear was of Yumiko's and Yuuta's breathing and the noise of the timer beeping in the background, as if it was saying that there was so many minutes until the thing in the oven was cooked. It smelt like one of Eiji's cakes when he had the rare time and managed to convince Smith to make one, expect this smell brought back a different feeling. A tingling feeling that brought back a different meaning of home. Fuji closed his eyes trying to straighten out his thoughts.

Back Smith's house, Eiji's cooking had brought a sense of happiness and a pleasure of some freedom, combined with smiles. This house, the smell was that of a home of no worries, an unlimited freedom, and not just smiles but laughter as well. A flash of something passed behind his eyelids and before he had the chance to follow it, he felt himself embraced tightly in someone's arms, the sweet smell of spring blossom overwhelming his senses. He could feel tears dropping on to his cheeks and he opened his eyes to notice brown hair almost smothering him. The hug felt instantly uncomfortable and Fuji tried squirming out of it but didn't succeed as Yuuta called the person away. Fuji gave a sigh of relief and gave a step back, realising that Yuuta had let go of his wrist, only to back into another person. Fuji turned in alarm and looked up to see a shocked face staring back at him. A soft sounding twinkling bell sounded in his head, pleasant and soothing, although it wasn't as loud as it had been with Yuuta and Yumiko.

He watched as the man with the shocked face placed his hands on Fuji's shoulders. Suddenly Fuji felt like he was holding the whole man's weight up and tried looking around at Yuuta to see if he could get some help. It wasn't need though as the man straightened and went and almost collapsed in one of the armchair. Fuji flinched slightly, thinking he had done something wrong and as he saw that woman who had wrapped him in his arms was going to punish him for it. Taking a step back Fuji turned his head down to the ground and closed his eyes.  
"Gomen, gomen" he apologized in a whispering tone as the woman kept on advancing, he could smelt that sweet blossom perfume growing stronger. It though, however, seemed to ease his anxiety than serve to increase it. Suddenly it stopped advancing and Fuji ready himself, tensing his body. 'Here it comes' he thought to himself but it never did come, the punishment he was expecting never happened. The only thing that happened was he felt a thumb just right of his chin and it pushed his head up gently. Fuji kept his eyes closed, thinking that they were playing with him before they punished him, like Smith did sometimes. The thumb then quivered against his skin as it moved up on to his cheek and the rest of the hand followed cupping the whole of his right cheek. Fuji opened his eyes only slightly, keeping his gaze downcast, thinking of how strange this feeling was. It was only one or two seconds later that he automatically moved into the comforting, warm hand as the thumb stroked his cheek in small circular movements. In that moment, Fuji let all of his worries fade away, he felt he could let them go, nothing in that world mattered at that moment, only him and the person stroking his cheek existed. That knowledge of not having to look after someone, the knowledge that he was safe and there was something strange, something he couldn't understand. He didn't understand the third and final feeling; it was like he felt for Eiji expect it was something like he had been born with.

Finally after what seemed a lifetime, he opened his eyes fully to look at the person stroking his cheek. A worn out face stared back at him, there were many emotions running through the eyes of this elder woman, it looked like he was seeing a female older version of himself. He didn't know her but he felt he should, there was something deep and longing within him that wanted to know her; it felt like a betrayal that he couldn't place her anywhere within his memories. With his left hand he brought it up and stroked her hair, he could hear faint gasps from the elder man, Yumiko and Yuuta, and distantly thought they had probably seen the support bandage. It didn't matter though, nothing matter at the moment. There was a sudden swift movement as he was pulled into those arms again, that warm and comforting hug again. Fuji's eyes glazed over as he rested his head into her shoulder, before closing them again to the darkness, knowing that he was seeing what he wanted to see which was this person and him. His mind was screaming at him that he shouldn't be doing but for some strange reason it was almost disconnected from the rest of his body. Logic was loosing in this situation.

"Shusuke," logic won then. His eyes opened. He hadn't spoken because he felt it would have destroyed those few moments he wanted to save deep within him. Logic told him to pull back and he did as the woman looked at him. He kept quiet. Even this woman knew his given name. However logic could not tell him what emotion he could see in this woman's partly closed eyes which were sparkling with tears; it was too deep and powerful. A ringing bell went off in the background and the woman in front of him jumped and looked towards where Fuji guessed the kitchen was. She didn't say anything as she walked from the room. Fuji felt suddenly very nervous again left in the room with Yuuta who was standing rocking back and fort on his feet, Yumiko who was standing look at him like he was a family pet who had returned after running away and the man who had collapsed into the armchair.

He took another couple of steps back shaking his head, thrusting his eyes downwards to the floor.

"I'm sorry" he whispered, it felt like he was making them all hurt and he couldn't handle that feeling. He couldn't look at them. "I need to get home to my brother …"

"I'm right here. Aniki; I'm your brother remember?" Yuuta interrupted him grabbing his right wrist, Fuji noticed that the boy had taken great care not to grab his left, to which he was eternally grateful but all he wanted to do was leave now.

"N…n… no my brother ba…ba… back home" Fuji stuttered, his eyes growing wide with alarm again. How could this boy in front of him be his brother? Eiji was his brother …

"I'm your brother Aniki." Yuuta said in a disbelieving tone shaking his head looking at his father quickly "otousan …" he said softly. The elder man had gone pale again.

"I'm sorry but I don't know you" Fuji said, his desperation now setting into his voice. Yuuta grabbed hold of Fuji's shoulders quickly and pushed him back into the wall, with enough force to make the surprised Fuji move but not enough to hurt. Fuji started to breathe hard 'maybe this is my punishment coming' he thought to himself as Yuuta released one of his shoulders and curled his right hand into a fist. Fuji closed his eyes again and looked down quickly as he saw the fist coming but it never landed and instead there was a great mass on top of him. He dared a peek to see what had happened and saw that the fist had actually landed on the wall above his shoulder and that the large mass was Yuuta's body; the younger boy's head was resting on his left shoulder muttering something into it which Fuji couldn't hear clearly. Feeling slightly awkward Fuji brought his right hand up and gently clutched the younger in a hug as he viewed the other two in the room. The eldest woman hadn't come back into the room.

"Otousan" Yumiko said; it was the first thing she had since the eldest two people had got back.

"We'll do whatever it takes" the strange man said to Yumiko. Fuji had a strange feeling that he wouldn't be getting back to Eiji tonight. Fuji had just literally disappeared without any warning and he hoped that Kevin and Kawamura-san, or Taka-san as he asked the two to call him, would support the red head and stop him from doing anything stupid.

The tension in the room was broken by a solid knock at the door and the elder woman emerged from the kitchen. Fuji could see the tear stains on her face.

"Hello?" she asked through the closed door as she stepped down into the genkan and opened the front door. There was a bright cheery person with a microphone and a camera rolling behind her

"Hello I'm Kaye from 24 Japan news channel. Is an earlier report of your eldest son being spotted being brought back here true?" The startled woman slammed the door shut and turned back to the older man eyes wide. Yumiko was shaking her head.

"We haven't informed the police yet." She exclaimed. Fuji felt the awkwardness of the situation rise to another level and bowed his head, he was still holding Yuuta in the same position expect the boy was looking directly at his sister now.

"Gomen" Fuji whispered once more.

* * *

**Nya! Annoying press ... but that serves as part of my next chapter ... ^-^, wonder if some of you can guess what's going to happen? (You will probably hate the press even more after the next chapter ...)  
Timeline wise I realised that doing an Eiji chapter next would serve better. **  
**Thank you for all your answers, they helped me in this chapter. I wanted to know what you thought would happen before I wrote it so I wouldn't make it totally rubbish ...  
Awwww ... fanfiction sorted itself out ealier today and now its back to being a pain ...**

**Sherlockdetective99: **Seriously? That chapter took me 5 hours to do, I was being distracted and yawning during that time as well but it took me five hours from start to stop. As for sleeping between 11:00 and 4:00, I don't think that is true otherwise people doing night shifts would be screwed.  
**Melodious Flurry:** And that's the reason why I didn't do it from Yumiko's and Yuuta's view point ...  
**demoncat13: **Yeah, the irony of being kidnapped by your own family although you were already kidnapped ... gah my mind will explode if I think anymore about that situtation!  
**Midori-Emmi: **He wasn't kidnapped to America, he was in England, Lincolnshire in England. I thought I said that in one of the previous chapters. Yeah in terms of chapters, the last one was better.  
**walaakongkwenta: **Daijoubou. Don't worry about fanfic, it will sort itself out but don't go off PoT! Nya! That would be bad! Kevin probably gets a slice of profits from his father's company. Oh yeah and Coach Smith isn't still not out of the story yet ... not by a long shot ...  
**ElementalCat: **I might redo in terms of wording, its not so well worded but that's a possible task for after this story is done.  
**yume229:** Oh okay! Good to know! I got two reviewers from the same country XD! Nya! As for chapter length it's only slightly shorter than the later chapters. I was tired

**REVIEWS PLEASE! And I will go to bed now at 6:25am XD Really need to sort out my sleeping pattern**


	40. Chapter 40

Oishi watched, with concern showing his eyes. It was all he could do at the moment, he had already the burning power player if he was alright several hundred times or it probably felt that way to Kawamura right now. The power player was pacing the study room, back and forth, stopping for one or two seconds before starting again, running his right hand through his hair. Oishi didn't think it had anything to do with the up coming exams, because his study books had remained untouched on the table to his right side. It wasn't a big room and had three tables set in a horseshoe shape. Tezuka and he sat at the top, they were supposed to be sorting out the next interschool matches but that was going nowhere. It didn't matter too much; they had lost out in the tournaments quite early on with a huge lack of weakness on the part of the doubles. Not that was Inui's and Oishi's fault, more than their partners. Seigaku's middle school had most certainly been stronger in terms of tennis, much stronger. Tezuka had devoted his time more to training the tennis club up ready for next year, when Oishi was sure that Kaidoh, Momo and Echizen would be joining them after getting their results from their exams. He could easily guess who would the regulars for next year but Tezuka had actually said he wanted other people to feel the pressure to improve. Oishi gave a glimpse of a smile as he gave a sidelong view towards the still stoic faced captain distracted from Kawamura's pacing, 'next year we will back together again as one team', a flash of an image passed in his mind and Oishi looked down at the desk as he tried to get rid of the picture of Eiji and Fuji in his head.

He succeeded when Kawamura managed to knock his pile of 3 books, along with masses of paper, off the table top and onto the floor, turning Oishi's attention back to the power player. Standing he went to help Kawamura pick them up as the power player once again ran his hand through his hair.

"Thank you Oishi" Kawamura said as he placed the book pile and paper pile back on the desk to sort out.

"What's wrong Taka-san?" Oishi asked the boy once again, this time determined not to walk away and back to his work without an answer. He could see from the corner of his eye that Tezuka was still working on his own work and Inui was typing away on the borrowed laptop from the library. Kawamura shook his head biting his lip. "Taka-san" Oishi added an extra warning tone to his voice. Kawamura sighed and brought the silver phone out of his right hand trouser pocket and placed it on the table besides the work. Oishi watched as the boy stood over it, both hands placed over it, like he was trying to stare it down. Oishi stood patiently, waiting for him to start explaining and he knew he would make Kawamura explain. Ever since the kidnapping Oishi disliked the feelings of being helpless, not being able to do anything and that had set a new determination to get people to tell him what was wrong.

"Someone I know has disappeared and one of my friends is out looking for him." Kawamura gave a long sigh and closed his eyes dropping his head, seemingly pushing against the table.

"How long has he been gone for?" Oishi could understand why Kawamura would be worried now. When they had been let home from the U-17 camp he had remained awake every night, worried and scared that the next day he would find another one of his friends had been kidnapped.

"He only went missing this morning" Kawamura said looking up at Oishi, the vice-captain of the tennis team took a step back in shock when he caught the look in Kawamura's eyes. He hoped he would never have to see that look again, the feeling of being trapped, unable to do anything, hope fading away. It was something Oishi would never expect from Kawamura. Kawamura looked away, pushing himself off the table and going back to his pacing. Oishi looked outside at the golden sunset sky, so this person Kawamura knew had been missing for a few decent hours then …

Oishi placed a curled up fist against his forehead, rubbing it back and forth to try and get rid of the impending headache he seemed to be getting. Closing his eyes again he tried breathing deeply, 'just like Eiji always tells …' Oishi's eyes snapped open again and he frowned. Just recently he seemed to be getting a lot of flashbacks to times when the hyperactive red head was always around him, and a time when he could laugh without worrying about what the future held or where all his friends where.

There was an impending shrill of a ringtone which echoed around the room as the silver phone on the table vibrated from right and left. Oishi had almost tripped over the table Inui was currently sat at after being jerked out of his thoughts. He watched as Kawamura leapt on it, like a kitten to a ball of yarn, and opened it, probably not even checking the number. Oishi could only marvel at how Tezuka kept on working despite all that was happening around him. Turning to check on Inui, he met with a shocked face which was directed at the laptop screen in front of him, a finger hovering over the down arrow.

"Inui?" Oishi asked, making his way around the table, to see what was so shocking that it had caught the data man off guard. As he came closer he caught the glimpse of a familiar face and he hurried his step slightly. Placing his hands on the table to the right of Inui, Oishi looked at the news article that was staring out. His breath stopped as his fingers brushed the screen like he could touch the person in the photo. "Tezuka" he gasped, not being able to tear his eyes away. It felt like if he did then the picture would disappear, the article would become something else and it would all be another mocking nightmare. He could hear the scratching of a pen against paper as he presumed the captain would be still working. "Tezuka" he said slightly louder. "Tezuka, they found Fuji. They found him; the police confirmed it just over an hour ago." Oishi whispered, looking at the black writing and he heard the pen stop, and heard it drop to the table. Apart from that there was no other movement he could hear. Taking a quick glance at Tezuka, Oishi saw the captain had frozen in one place, eyes downcast on the paper in front of him; the pen had rolled off to one side. Quickly taking control of the laptop from Inui, Oishi scrolled down the article, scanning it, a habit he had picked up from reading a lot of books, looking for another set of positive words, looking for that other name. His left hand curled when he reached the end of the article and almost in desperation he pressed the up arrow key, re-scanning the article once again.

He took a few stumbling steps backwards and backed himself up against the bare white wall, before sliding down, he wasn't looking anywhere in particular for wherever he looked all he could see was that particular red head who had made so much of an impact on his life. He was briefly aware that Kawamura was kneeling besides him asking him what was wrong, that meant he had finished with his phone call, that brief awareness let him hear Inui's answer, repeating the same words as that on the article. Kikumaru Eiji was still yet to be found. Oishi could feel his body tilting into Kawamura's as the power player supported him. He could feel tears prickling at his vision and as he was closing his eyes, he could have sworn that he saw a glistening sunset coloured tear on the captain's cheek.

**POT  
**

Eiji sat in front of the television set, staring at the paused screen, ShuShu's face staring back out at him. Shaking his head Eiji looked away harshly from the screen, no not ShuShu. This was someone who he had thought he had known but apparently not. ShuShu was his brother; this Fuji Shusuke was not. Tightening his hands into fists, he stood quickly, turning the screen off before he felt the need to hit into oblivion. 'Kevin was still out there in the streets'; Eiji mused with a bitter mocking tone to his thoughts. Maybe the American already knew about this Fuji person taking the persona of his brother.

Eiji raised his shaking right fist to his mouth as he closed his eyes tightly. Everything was being ripped away and it all started when they were brought here. It felt like he had been betrayed, stabbed, torn of everything he knew. "How could he do this to me?" Eiji shouted across the room opening his eyes, at no one in particular. His heart ached heavily; a heavy feeling of something came across him. He turned and looked over at the side rosemary wood cabinet. He wanted something he felt familiar; somewhere were he could feel he was safe with his memories … leaping across the room as a number popped into his head, he grabbed the phone from the handset. The tears were coming thick and fast. He dialled a number he thought he would never need but had memorized. This trip was supposed to be about learning the culture of Japan! Not to destroy everything. He heard the ringing tone, once … twice … three times … on the fourth ring he heard the phone being picked up, and an angry, harsh but familiar voice came across the other side.

"What do you want?" was the greeting Eiji got. Eiji gulped and closed his eyes as he spoke the next few words. He wanted … he wanted ShuShu … he wanted to be somewhere were he knew every corner … he wanted to be somewhere away from here …

"I want to come home" was Eiji's reply …

* * *

**Right! You can offically hate the press now! Even more so if you can guess who Eiji is talking to ... and don't blame Eiji for making his choice! He's scared, he's alone and he doesn't know what to do, I think anyone in his situtation would do what he has done. Blame Smith, Saotome and the press ... **  
**I also decided to combine an Eiji and regulars chapter on a suggestion from one of the reviewers ...**  
**I really need to sort out my sleeping pattern ... O_O ... 5:00am ... nya! not good. I'm getting a headache from doing this ...**

**ElementalCat:** Yeah I took my time on that chapter for some reason but I shouldn't have a changed sleeping pattern ... its bad. Nya! I hope Eiji and Fuji do recover their memories after this chapter  
**Midori-Emmi:** I did a regular chapter and an Eiji chapter as well, thanks for the idea! XD Hope you like it in a way ... nya about to fall asleep on top of my laptop if I am not careful!  
**demoncat13:** I can get Atobe to pay the press to stop bugging them but I think the damage is already done ... major time ...  
**Sherlockdetective99: **NYA! Its fine! Thank you for the complement! And you may just get that final request!

**Reviews please! Pretty please ... **


	41. Chapter 41

Momo took in the state of the high school students as they sat at the café table, the drinks were untouched. Kawamura looked like he was ready to explode with anxiety and worry over something, his phone was on the table in front of him and the power player kept on stealing glances towards it every couple of minutes like he was expecting a call. Oishi was a wreak; pale and unsteady, his emotions were on display to anyone who would care to look their way, and was using Tezuka as a pillar to lean on at the moment. His head was resting on Tezuka's left shoulder and the captain of the high school tennis team was making no move to shake the boy. The vice captain had his eyes closed and could have seen to be asleep, although everyone at the table knew he was awake. Momo only gave Oishi a sympathetic look, but the elder boy clearly missed it. Inui had his laptop out on the table and was busy typing away; only occasionally throwing glances towards the mother hen of the group. Tezuka just sat there with his arms crossed, nothing showing on his face as usual. No one had said anything since Inui had announced the recent news of Fuji's return. It had been a shocking but cheerful greeting to their weekly meets which they had organized regularly since the year had passed Fuji and Eiji had been kidnapped. However the news had been damped when Momo realised that Inui had not mentioned anything about Eiji and the way Oishi was being supported by Tezuka had been enough to confirm that nothing had been heard.

It was an awkward silence that had elapsed over the table. Momo had images of Eiji and Fuji when they had been taken from the cabin popping back into his head. Looking around he wanted to speak them out loud, tell them, reassure Oishi that if Fuji got back safe from the condition he had been in then Eiji would be fine and that he would be found soon but he couldn't find the courage to do so. Suddenly the secret he had been holding for so long as so very hard to let go. Momo's mouth had opened several times already within the last two hours they had been there but no noise had come out. Clutching the glass of cola in his right hand tightly, he looked up from the table he had been staring at whilst conducting his thoughts and opened his mouth although the voice that came from over the table was not from him.

"I want to show you something."

Startled by the sudden burst from one of the most strangely quietest of their group Momo looked over at Kawamura who was standing with both hands planted on the table, his chair was on the ground, like Kawamura had stood in a hurry but his gaze was at the table below rather than the group. Out of the corner of his eye Momo noticed that Inui pushed up glasses up his nose, his gaze now on Kawamura rather than the laptop screen for the first time since they had sat down.

"I want to show you something back at mine" Kawamura said, giving a quick glance up before looking away to the space on his right, it made him look like he was hiding something Momo concluded, but what would Kawamura have in his apartment that would make him look as guilty as he did now? Momo watched as Tezuka gave a nod as a single approval, the former middle school Seigaku regular team all rose from the table like one, apart from Oishi who still had his head on Tezuka's shoulder.

Oishi had heard everything but his body refused to cooperate, people had to help through out the rest of the afternoon after reading the news article. It had felt like he had been drained of energy and he couldn't gain it back, thus Tezuka's shoulder had become a comfortable spot. He had thought before today that news of Fuji's and Eiji's return would excite him but it wasn't anything like he had imagined. Opening his eyes, he spotted Momo walking around the table, there was no limp to his step any more but apparently according to information he got from Echizen there was the rare times when it did flare up. The support bandage was always visible when Momo played with the rare times with shorts, hiding the ugly scar that he remembered. Oishi watched as Momo stood besides him.

"Let's go Oishi-sempai" the younger boy said helping him up. Oishi felt his body respond like that of a robot's, on automatic as Momo helped him by placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

It was a steady walk back to Kawamura's flat, although Oishi didn't take in a single point about their surroundings. He barely noticed the looks Momo was sending him, or the questions. It was like he was dead to the world. He barely knew the fact that he had been brought through the door of Kawamura's flat, or the fact he had removed his shoes. So it was a huge register shock when he realised that he was sitting on one of the stools in the now closed restaurant and the others we are settled around him, Kawamura obviously moving upstairs from the sound of it. He turned around, blinking, taking in the cleanliness of the place. Kawamura seemingly had taken care of it quite well, 'his father will be happy' Oishi caught himself thinking, distracted for the first time since the news article, giving a brief smile.

Kawamura took in a long sigh as he knocked on the door once more of what had been Fuji's and Eiji's room where they were staying, hoping the boy hadn't done anything rash for there had been no answer. There was some clear footsteps coming up the stairs and Kawamura looked to his left to see Kevin appearing. His blonde hair was a mess, his black jacket hanging loosely off his shoulders. He had clearly heard the news. Kevin looked at the door to the bedroom with a raised eyebrow, to which Kawamura shook his head.

"He's not coming out. I've decided that the others need to … after they found out …" Kawamura offered in a way of explanation to the younger boy, who just gave a nod and moved his way to besides Kawamura taking over on knocking on the door.

"Come out!" Kevin commanded after knocking for what seemed the tenth thousand time, to which a meek looking Eiji appeared at the door, not looking at Kawamura or Kevin. Kawamura felt his heart sink for the boy, it was obvious by his face that he had heard the news about Fuji but there was nothing he could do. He only hoped that seeing the other regulars he would do something for the boy, it would be more than slightly difficult to get hold of his parents.

"Eiji I need you to come with me. Just for a bit," Kawamura said viewing the boy up and down; the red head looked even worse than Kevin did. He could still see some faint red marks on Eiji's cheeks but decided not to comment on it.

Waving his hand, Kawamura waited for Eiji to come to the top of the stairs before nodding for the red head to go down them. There was no way he wanted to have the boy run after having Kevin's efforts so far. Placing a hand on Eiji's shoulder, he noticed the red head was keeping his head low as they walked down the stairs. He didn't dare look as he heard the gasps, but he had to sneak a glance at the one person who this was really for. Turning his head Kawamura dared a side long glance towards where Oishi was sitting …

* * *

**A bad chapter in my opinion, awkward starting it ... I might redo this but at the moment I am so tired. It's not long because it took ages for me to actually even get that far! But I'll let you review. I will reply to your reviews next chapter! Promise but at the moment, I need to collapse and sleep. Sorry**


	42. Chapter 42

Fuji was curled up in the right corner of the sofa; arms wrapped tightly around his legs, eyes closed and head resting against the back of the brown sofa. Yuuta could see visible red finger marks on his brother's left arm from where the boy had been gripping so hard that it looked like in some places he could have a bruise. It had been a long day after the press had turned up on their doorstep. They had to call the police almost straight after that cheery woman had turned up, as to keep more press from intruding on their front garden and also as to inform them that Fuji had been returned home, or more found and brought home. Two policemen and one police woman, as was policy, turned up on their door step almost ten minutes later, serious looks crossing their face. The bulk policeman stayed outside, to warn the press to stay away from the house; although Yuuta reasoned with himself in his head, if they tried the guy looked he could chuck them probably about three kilometres away. They had introduced themselves as the Yukhiro brother and sister duo, although they looked nothing like each other, the elder brother being incredibly tall for a Japanese man at Yuuta guessed about 6 feet and the woman being about average height. The male policeman had moved into the study with Yuuta so he could receive a statement about the finding of Fuji whilst the woman had been taken by their parents to see if they could get anything out of Fuji who had remained silent after that annoying woman after it was revealed that the elder boy just couldn't remember.

Yuuta remembered the chuckles of the policeman as he described finding Fuji and how everything had moved very swiftly afterwards. Yuuta had been slightly nervous of the tall policeman tell him off for skipping school but all the man had done was just nod and agree his head; saying that he had done it a few times in his youth as well! The statement had been done quickly and easily, meaning that within fifteen minutes there were back out again heading towards the living room. The door was closed and Fuji's father stood at the kitchen door; waving them to come into the kitchen. Yuuta was surprised to Yumiko sitting there nursing a cup of tea in her hands but their mother was nowhere to be seen. It was his father that answered his unspoken question.  
"Your mother is with Shusuke and the policewoman. It seems he is having problems believing that he is … that he is …" Yuuta watched as for the first time as long as he could remember in his life, his father stumbled for words. The brown haired elder man took a deep breath before trying the sentence again. "He can't believe that he is Fuji Shusuke. He thinks he is called Smith Shusuke and he is half American or something. I didn't catch most of it but he got upset when the policewoman called to ask about it and there were no details on a Smith Shusuke being born anywhere near the place or time where he thinks he was. The policewoman asked us to leave but it seems your brother asked for your mother to stay." Yuuta could see the pain crossing his father's face and could understand it. It was like Fuji had wiped them from his memories and it was painful to know that all those connections they had with him before they would possibly have to redo, which meant Yuuta could start again but all those moments they had together, their lives would be just memories and pictures tucked away safely in a corner. Something felt wrong about that scene and there was still the matter of the support bandage Yumiko, his father and himself had seen on Fuji's wrist.

Deep in his own thoughts he didn't realise that the policewoman had come out of the living room now, although a grave expression on her face. It was only when Yumiko stood quickly from the table and knocked her mug on to the floor, creating a crashing noise as it shattered into several large bits, did Yuuta jerk back from his thoughts and realise the woman was in the room with them. Yumiko quickly apologized for being clumsy and all Yuuta could do was stare at his sister; Yumiko never ever got clumsy. The girl was soon on the floor picking all the bits up and placing them in the bin before the policewoman began to speak.

"I'm no Doctor orPsychologist but it seems he has some sort of confabulation which is blocking his memories from returning. Why this is I have no idea, because I haven't been able to withdraw a statement from him about during the time whilst he's been kidnapped. I would also advise you to call your family doctor and ask him to come on a home visit; which will keep the press from hounding you. He should be able to give you a good psychologist address or number or possible both but I would get him to look at Fuji-kun's wrist. I did notice the support bandage but I also picked up on the fact he tended to keep it hidden and favoured it. Just a precautionary idea but I'm not so happy with leaving it the way it is." The policewoman took in a deep sigh as glanced at her watch. The policeman behind her picked up on the movement and took over speaking.

"We will have to release a statement for the press within the next hour but we won't reveal any details, only that indeed your son has been returned home. Unfortunately we have to release one otherwise it would get worse for you and the sooner we do it the better the relief from the press outside. They aren't officially allowed on your grounds so give us a call if they start bothering and doing things they shouldn't and for the next couple of days, try and go out at night or early mornings when they are less likely to see you if you need to go out. That is our advice." With that the policeman and policewoman let themselves out, taking their burly friend with them, as the part of the family had remained in a motionless state.

That had been several hours ago and after the living room after what seemed like forever they had noticed Fuji had taken up residence in his current position. Yuuta's father had turned the TV on for a brief while, almost like he wanted some noise in the quiet room, but the moment they saw the headlining news he had turned it back off again. Yumiko had remained in the kitchen until Yuuta heard her head to her room when the news had come on. Their parents had taken to whispering in the background about what to do against the shrill of the phone ringing constantly. Someone had to answer it each time, encase it was their family calling up about Fuji's return but so far it had always been another report from the press or a magazine, or something ridiculous. Yuuta gathered by now Oishi and the rest of the Seigaku would have heard the news. He wondered how the vice-captain of the high school team was doing. Those long painful weeks of waiting at the camp in which Yuuta had shared a room with Oishi were still as clear in his mind, so clear he could relive them, probably recite every word. It would probably a big impact on him that only half the dream pair had arrived back in Japan; although not unharmed by the sounds of it.

The phone rang once and there was a pause when Yuuta presumed his father answered in the hallway. Stealing a glance at Fuji, Yuuta noticed the grip on the arms had lessened, or the left arm as he was hiding his left hand and right arm in the sofa, which was probably an attempt to hide the support bandage. 'That's what old Aniki would do …' Yuuta thought sadly to himself as he made his way over slowly to Fuji from the other side of the room where he had been stood observing his elder brother. Looking at Fuji's face, Yuuta gave a brief but grieving smile as he looked a relaxed face of a person who was now clearly asleep.

There was a noise of someone clearing his throat that happened above Yuuta's head and the boy looked up at his father who had that still fierce look ever since the phone calls had started happening. "Anyone?" Yuuta asked although he could probably guess the answer. There was a firm shake of the head.

"Is he awake?" Yuuta's father asked softly as he looked at his eldest. Yuuta took a step back as he watched the expression on his father's face changed. It was open now, full of unspoken words, a delicate touch to the glistening of his father's eyes.

"No. I think he is asleep." Yuuta replied.

"Your mother is making dinner right now," Yuuta basically interpreted that in his mind of his mother getting rid of stress.

"Maybe you should take Aniki up his room, if he wakes up there he might remember something and we will probably hear him anyway. I don't think mother would be happy with anyone if he woke him just for dinner." Yuuta suggested, thinking of anyway to have his brother regain his memories. The youngest of the Fuji family watched as his father walked with a steady slow pace around the arm of the sofa. It always slightly annoyed him when nobody believed him when he said his father hit the gym when he had some spare time from his job just because first the guy previous to Fuji's kidnapping had never been around and second his father hid his muscles well under his work shirts. Yuuta's father removed Fuji's arms from around his knees, placing his right arm around Fuji's back and his left arm under the boy's knees lifted him from the sofa with ease. The sleeping boy didn't even stir.

"He's lighter than before … much lighter" the elder man commented. Fuji's head lay against his father's chest, maintaining that relaxed, almost angelic face that the boy had been known for, the only thing that was missing was his smile. Yuuta frowned in concern peering at Fuji's face before scampering to the living room door to hold it open for the man who passed sideways through it. As Yuuta started up the stairs before his father he thought about the statement.

"Maybe we should mention that to the doctor," Yuuta paused mid-step and turned to look at his father quickly, who froze behind him. "We are getting …"

"We're getting a doctor. First thing tomorrow I am going to phone but not now, not with these phone calls coming through. I wouldn't get the chance." Yuuta's father nodded, trying to make Yuuta to carry on up the stairs. Yuuta got the hint and scampered up the rest of the stairs, opening the door to Fuji's bedroom thinking he might have to put a blanket on, so he was surprised to see the bed had already been made. A click was heard from the door across the hallway.

"I had a feeling you might have wanted him to sleep in there; so I made the bed" Yumiko's voice floated across the hallway accompanied quickly by the shutting of her door. Holding the bedroom door open Yuuta's father passed once again sideways through it and placed Fuji on the bed, like the way a mother would delicately place her child in their cot, carefully, like they were made of glass. Yuuta watched as the man stroked Fuji's hair gently. Just once.

"Let's go Yuuta" the man whispered, leaving the room. Yuuta took a little longer to take in the form of his brother laying there. 'I promise I'll help you get your memories back Aniki. I promise' Yuuta thought to himself before closing the door softly to the bedroom.

* * *

**Right, not so tired now ... just in general pain instead ... darn it my body hates me and yeah I put a Fuji chapter in and am leaving Oishi's reaction until tomorrow ... possibly. I need sleep after this! So replies to reviews for chapter 40 & 41. You all guessed it was Smith Eiji was talking to which is correct. **

**Just a question. Does anyone know when Fuji's mother appears in the manga? I don't remember seeing her in the anime ...**

**BF (chapter 40): **There we go Taka came clean! XD Oishi was in a bad state and possibly will be worse after the next chapter ... it does feel strange for them to separated after all the story together apart from a few bits in the chapters.  
**ElementalCat (40-41): **50 chapters? Then again I might do it with this story ... longest story ever! Well maybe not ever but I've never spent this long on a story before ... and someone said they liked chapter 41 actually ... so I guess it comes and goes with people but it does fit into the story, just need the second half which I have yet to write.  
**demoncat13 (40-41): **Who said that Eiji was getting on a plane? and yes Eiji is shown to the regulars ...  
**walaakongkwenta(41): **I'm worried now. Its going to be a really annoying bug ... I wonder what's happened because they aren't posting anything on the front home page. Yeah Fuji and Eiji have been missing for about 1 year and about 4 months now ... O_O, I didn't realise I did that subconciously ... (sorry something relating to my shoulder). I think Taka had to mature quickly as possible to support Oishi along with most of the rest of the Tennis team.  
**eijikikumarufan01(38-41):** Don't push yourself if you're ill! Oh wonderful laundry ... I have to do that sometime soon ... yes the press are very much evil in this story, as for Oishi and Eiji. It could be an interesting chapter

**REVIEWS PLEASE! Pretty please!**


	43. Chapter 43

It was another awkward silence. It was stifling the air as 6 pair of eyes stared at the pale red head, who stood on the stairs looking like he was going to blanch and try and make a quick escape. However with Kawamura stood directly behind him, the only way out would be around the bar and through the kitchen which would mean going through them Momo observed after being the first to get over his shock of seeing the red head. In all realities, he had thought previously that when Eiji would reappear, if he ever reappeared, he would look thin, beaten, ill, in a hospital bed somewhere, moaning about how he wanted to get out of the hospital, somehow hugging everyone from his position in his bed, hyper and ready to move again, concerned about Fuji, talking non-stop to a point where only Oishi and Fuji would be able to follow. He didn't expect to see the acrobatic player like this. A tired, scared look to his face, a stiff body posture, indeed he looked much thinner but there was no movement to hug, no talking, nothing. It was like there was a foreign person within Eiji's body.

It was Kawamura who started things moving again. It was probably more out of necessity than want; due to the fact that Eiji had frozen in his spot on the staircase and wouldn't move. "Eiji," and with a wave of the left hand for the boy to continue moving down the stairs was all that was needed to reduce the room to some sort of chaos.  
"Kikumaru-sempai!" was the splutter from Echizen, as Momo noted he almost dropped his Ponta can. Where did that boy keep on getting that drink from anyway? Air?

"Eiji-sempai!" Momo called out and was just rising out of his seat when he heard a hiss from behind. "Is that all you can say Mamushi?" he asked turning towards Kaidoh, who rose quickly to counter with his own words.

"Baka. You didn't even let me start," came the quick reply and it was almost positive that a fight would have started there and then if there hadn't been an injection of a strict voice.

"Momoshiro, Kaidoh. Unless you want to run laps for the rest of the evening …" he didn't even finish his sentence before the automated reply floated back at him.

"Hai Buchou!" It amazed Momo how much they still regard Tezuka as their captain; as he would be again next year, but it amazed him even more than Oishi hadn't moved across to stop them. Momo's gaze rested on the vice-captain and he frowned. The sempai hadn't moved one inch from when Eiji had walked into view.

"Kawamura …" Tezuka said, his arms still crossed although he wasn't looking at the power player at the moment, his gaze was still on the nervous red head who had reached the bottom of the stairs by now.

"Gomen," The player said nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "I didn't want to keep this a secret from you but …" Momo watched out of the corner of his eye as the elder boy stumbled for words. "He's only been here for a few days. Yes Fuji was here as well," there was a whimpered compressed noise from Eiji and it quickly diverted everyone away if they hadn't been looking at Kawamura, or in Momo's case, Oishi. Kawamura stopped and looked at the boy besides him; no one could make heads or tails of that noise. It was only then that Oishi moved. Almost too swift for anyone, apart from probably Echizen, to see Oishi had somehow moved from his high stool at the sushi bar to hugging Eiji tightly.

It was almost like time had frozen in that second, a startled faces staring back out at them all. Looks of horror passing over it only served to the gathered group's confusion, although Oishi couldn't see the features that were installed on Eiji's face. Kawamura moved quickly after a few seconds, placing his hands on Oishi's shoulders.

"Oishi" he whispered, although all could hear. You could hear a pin drop in the room, just like you could hear the quick intakes of breath from Eiji himself. "Oishi, I need to explain something to do you, to all of you but … but I need you to come away from Eiji. Please Oishi." The next sentence shocked the whole of the room because it had been unexpected from the mother hen of the group, lifting his head from where he had buried it in Eiji's shoulder.

"Why? So you can lie to us and let Eiji be taken away again?" it was a direct attack at Kawamura and the power player looked guilty and rather upset at the accusation.

"Oishi-sempai!" Momo called out, the only one who did. "Don't say that" Momo knew what it was like to have a secret which kept from the others and how much it hurt, admittedly not as big as this one. He watched as Oishi turned to look at him, a glare which could only be described as being seen very few times on Fuji's face.

"It's true isn't it? He kept this big of a secret from us, from me. Even when he knew how much it meant to me!" Oishi snapped back, his arms still wrapped around the obviously uncomfortable Eiji. There was another stifling silence to follow.

"Yes but he only did it on my request." A different voice, a cold voice that froze the room, harsh and as strict as Tezuka himself. A blonde haired boy appeared into view as he walked down the stairs, each footstep as clear as the last. "Move away from Eiji, Oishi." Kevin warned the boy, glaring down at him.

"Wh…why?" the appearance of the American player had thrown Oishi completely and so thus the spite of his previous words to Kawamura were gone.

"Because he doesn't remember you, he is probably thinking at the moment you are going to punish him for something after you spoke that way to Kawamura. Am I right Eiji?" Kevin said, hands in pockets as he leant against the wall next to the staircase. Oishi turned to look at the red head who was cowering away from the vice-captain, eyes closed tightly. It was visible to everyone that the boy was shaking. Oishi's eyes grew wide as he figured this out and took a staggering step backwards.

"Eiji?" the red head seemed to hide more into himself as much as he could.

"Gomen," was his answer. Oishi's right hand came up to his mouth in a form of a fist and everyone could only watch as tears started to fall down his cheeks.

"Eiji" came a strangled, choked with tears whisper as Oishi collapsed on the floor much to everyone's alarm as Tezuka leapt out of the high stool he was on and placed his arms around the vice-captain. Oishi turned his head into the normally very stern captain and everyone could only watch as the boy's body heaved with quiet sobs.

"Did … did you live near Sapporo?" it was a small whisper, but clearly heard by the intend person. Momo looked up from where he had been watching Oishi in concern. Eiji was looking at him, so he pointed to himself to make sure.

"Me?" Eiji nodded hesitantly. Momo shook his head softly, but there was something different which had flashed across Eiji's eyes. It was something Kevin definitely picked up on.

"Eiji, do you remember something?"

"I … I thought I remembered him from somewhere," came the hesitant reply. Kevin bit his lip as Oishi's sobs dried up and he knelt there with Tezuka still holding his arms around him. It gave a somewhat new hope to the situation. Kevin then took the decision to carry on with informing them about the rest of what he knew.

"Eiji and Fuji both have the same problem. They both either refuse to remember or can't remember about anything before they were taken to England and have created a new set of memories instead. Don't blame Kawamura for keeping them here but after seeing they didn't remember him I was scared of the reaction you would give." That last sentence had been clearly directed in Oishi's way. "It was Kawamura's own decision to show him to you after Fuji was found by his family. I couldn't leave them in England. Not after the abuse I had to watch them suffer from my father's hand."

There was a solid harsh thud from the top of the stairs, as something hit the wall. "Yo-ho-ho, someone talking about me?" In the bright lights from upstairs, a glinting broken bottle was dripping with the remainders of alcohol.

* * *

**That guy at the end is never out of the story long ... grrr ... anyway, so sorry about the late update! Seriously so very sorry and also about the smallish chapter.**  
**I'll tell you why though. Whilst in my room I did a twirl and I ended up loosing my balance. Now in my room there was a chair in front of me and then the bed directly behind it. I grabbed at the chair to try and gain my balance whilst propelling forwards, so that meant my arm actually went further forwards, onto the bed. So whilst the rest of my body fell onto the floor, my right arm fell onto the bed. My arm went further back than its supposed to and higher than its supposed to. Its a little sore now and feels almost disconnected from the shoulder down, with shoots of pain now and then, but it hurt at the time (not to mention i have carpet burns :( now). This was going to be a difficult chapter to write to begin with and for me to do that at the same time has made it ten times worse because my right hand is my dominant hand. I can only hope its just going to be sore but, knowing what my muscles are like (that shoulder already had muscles problems to begin with) I am hoping its not any worse. So all I can say is gomen, gomen gomen! Please forgive me.**

**demoncat13:** Nope, someone came on the plane to Japan instead ...  
**Midori-Emmi: **There you go, this is the signifiance of Eiji calling Smith scene. About Fuji's mum, thank you!  
**Elementalcat:** two more smith clones are on your way to you right now for being a constand reviewer. XD hope you have!  
**Sherlockdetective99:** Bad luck on your internet but at least you managed to regain it quickly (I lost it once for 5 days, and I had an internet boyfriend at the time, had me worried sick...) glad you like the chapter

**Gomen if this very bad! But its the best I can do considering my current state (which also means practicing tennis could be out! NYA! IIE!). Please review and tell me**


	44. Chapter 44

A violent drunkard's voice is that of a chilling experience, it's even worse when the drunkard is a monster to begin with. Each word is like someone stepping on the soul, the heart feels heavy and like someone has taken it is as it beats and squeezed it, the body reacts by curling itself into a ball, hands crossing as they creative a protective shield clutching at either arm. It feels like there are arms slinking from behind, crawling slowly, ever so slowly up the skin. The knees start quivering under the pressure of the upper body weight, a simple tap to the soft skin could bring them crashing to the ground. The breathing increases, lighter, faster, breaths more shallow. His hands started to tremble as memories passed through his mind of a similar monster. Images of a time that haunted him at night when it was particularly cold and the duvet was not enough to protect him fully from the blast of icy cold wind. Taking a step back he was surprised to realise that he had stepped back into someone else, a firm strong hand placed on his shoulder. Why did the man that staggered down the stairs remind him so much of Saotome? Memories of that racket swinging toward his back… wrapping his hands around his head to protect it… that voice which wouldn't leave him alone… Momo took a glance back to see who was behind him and saw to his great surprise the figure of Kaidoh in his almost natural pose of his right hand on his green bandana; hissing at the new unwanted guest.

Kevin had turned pale and bolted down the stairs, grabbing a surprised Eiji tightly by the arms and almost throwing him at Tezuka and Oishi before stepping back so his he was against the sushi bar. The red head stumbled and fell over, and without meaning to, clutched at Oishi's arms tightly, the vice captain responding almost automatically by wrapping his right arm around the frightened boy. Tezuka's gaze was focused on the newcomer, whilst Echizen held his can of Ponta in midair looking unclear about whether to throw it at the drunken man's head or to carry on drinking it.

"I'm sorry but who are you?" Kawamura was the first one to ask, coming to the bottom of the stairs in a clear attempt to stop his approach any further into the restaurant. There was a loud burp from the messed man as he stood in front of the power player, seemingly unnerved.

"Ah, aren't you a pretty young boy? Do you play tennis as well?" the man's left hand was snaking slowly up the wall; the right tightened its grip on the bottle. Kawamura blinked in surprise at the sudden question but shook his head firmly.

"I'm going to have to ask for you to leave unless you state who you are and what you are here for?" Kawamura stated firmly, crossing his arms. It was Echizen who spotted the next move but the call could have been worth nothing.

"Kawamura-sempai!" The room was plunged into darkness as a faint click was heard followed by a loud thud of something hitting the wall, a crash of breaking glass to accompany it, and there was a silence that followed after a grunt of pain echoed around the room. It had only taken a few seconds for it to all unfold enough for the lights to flicker off and on again after the light switch had not been properly pushed down.

Kawamura was bent on his knees on the floor, brown tinted glass lain shattered all around him, the blonde haired man standing over him, the glass bottle shortened but still as sharp. The power player had both of his hands covering the left hand side of his face, red blood droplets seeping from underneath the large hands, dripping on to the floor of the restaurant. All expect the man whose back was heaving with deep long breaths, bent over and with slow menacing steps he turned his back on the injured Kawamura.

"Me? I'm George Smith and I'm taking back what I own" he said, his eyes squinting at the regulars before giving another sudden burst of movement with his left hand curled into a fist swung at Kevin who stood within reaching distance of Smith.

"Uncle Smith! Stop it!" there was no struggle as Eiji tore himself from Oishi's arms and launched himself at the quite large menacing figure. The fist instead of catching Kevin, as was the original target, the fist knocked Eiji against the wall, the acrobatic player's head making a firm sounding thud against the steel works of the building. The red head slipped down the wall beside Kawamura and didn't move.

"EIJI!" Oishi yelled out getting over his initial shock of watching Eiji run into the course of the oncoming fist. His voice distracted Smith from where he was ready to try again at punching Kevin again and the deadly monster of a coach turned his glazed look on to the vice captain who had struggled to his feet, Tezuka moving upwards with him expect more smoothly. What Smith probably didn't expect was the tennis ball which flew up into his face.

"Mada Mada Dane!" Echizen held his racket tightly in his right hand, another ball in his left, ready to serve once again if was needed. Momo was surprised by the words which were spoken in such a harsh tone, although, he reasoned, that was pretty much the same reaction as what Echizen did when he knocked Saotome out, however he couldn't be completely clear on that due to the fact that day was just a memory covered with a heavy dose of pain. Momo felt Kaidoh reach for his own racket but stopped when a fast ball whizzed past his head and into Smith's face once more. The drunken man stumbled backwards over a high stool and slammed into the hard floor.

"I've phoned the police and for an ambulance," Inui said, his racket still firmly in his right hand. Momo's scarred leg finally gave out on him and he collapsed to the floor, his hands were still shaking. That monster had been in charge of the kidnapping, of hurting Eiji and Fuji, that monster had been the one who had made Eiji and apparently Fuji forget about them, that monster was the one who gave him the scar on the back of his right calf muscle. Kaidoh followed Momo downwards; his hand still supporting its position on Momo's left shoulder.

Tezuka made his way over to Kawamura kneeling by the power player whose face was turned down; his hands were turned red by the blood that was coming out from behind something.

"Gomen. I didn't manage to stop him. You had to stop him. I can't even do that right." Kawamura said, purposely avoiding looking up as he probably could see Tezuka's shadow as the captain bent down and lifted his fingers underneath the power player's chin to inspect what he could of Kawamura's left side of his face.

"Kawamura, do you know where the cut is on your face?" Tezuka asked, seemingly ignoring the previous statement.

"No. It feels like there are cuts all over it." Kawamura replied giving a half smile. Tezuka spared a glance over to his right to monitor the vice-captain and encase he did something rash and sudden again. Oishi was bent over next to Eiji, checking the back of his head, tenderly propping the skull for any lumps, wincing presumably when he found one.

Kevin was stood over the now unconscious, and likely to remain that way, Smith. The elder man's nose was a bloody mess, and it wouldn't have been a surprise if it was broken. Kevin did notice nobody bothered taking care of Smith, just making sure that the others were alright, it wouldn't surprise him if they didn't even notice if the police would take care of him. Kneeling besides his father, Kevin drew several circles with his right hand index finger on the floor. "How many times do you need to keep on being told hmm?" Kevin gave a small laugh, looking at the floor space now. "You're a failure, that's what you always told me but in the end, resorting to what you did. I think you are the failure, not me. Yes I may not have beaten Echizen but in the end I beat my own demons, the ones stopping me. You? You can't stop living in the past can you? Well its time to prove to the world how much of a real failure you are Mr Smith." With those single final words Kevin moved away from Coach Smith, effectively cutting off all emotional ties with the man he once knew as his father.

* * *

**NYA! Is all I can say to that chapter but even with Smith gone it could be a long road of recovery, if it's even possible, for Fuji and Eiji. Speaking of which I am surprised no one has mentioned how Tezuka actually cried in one of the previous chapters ...  
Just to point this out here, Eiji probably only briefly remembers Momo because he was the last person he saw of the regulars ... Fuji didn't see him, Fuji was ill at the time :( Darn ... I want to go and torture Saotome again now ...**

**BF: **He kind of knocked the Eiji-shaped shield away ... so he failed in all respects! I didn't even realise that part was subtle.  
**demoncat13:** Not with Smith drunk it wasn't!  
**Midori-Emmi: **Yeah that was very contradictory ... but I understand how you would feel that way.  
**ElementalCat:** I don't want to know your plans ... or maybe I do actually ... and its fine about school! Just don't forget this story!

**REVIEWIES PLEASE! **


	45. Chapter 45

"Today the residents of Tokyo were in an uproar as details of where the American big company holder, Smith George, was being treated was released to the press today …" the radio blared out from his bed side cabinet whilst flashing its bright coloured time at him. Fuji gave a small moan and reached out hitting the radio off with his left hand, before rolling back over. He didn't understand how he felt so tired, he never felt this tired normally but staying in bed for a small while longer wouldn't harm anyone. Smith wouldn't be around for a couple more hours and Eiji would make sure he would wake up… Fuji jolted upright; his eyes wide open as he stared around the room. Some time in the night, someone must have changed him into some pyjamas and then tucked him into the strange bed which was surprisingly very comfortable and a lot more soft than the ones back in England. The room was larger than the one in England as well, being almost twice the size with a lot more stuff in, like a television, a chest of drawers, cupboards, shelving, a desk, a chair, curtains drawn across the window … It felt like something was missing from the room but Fuji couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Everything seemed familiar but Fuji was certain that he had never been in this room before; he had never had a room before where there was only one bed because he had always shared with Eiji, at least he thought he always shared with Eiji. According to the policewoman, those people who he presumed where downstairs he was someone else. Shusuke Smith didn't exist in this world; no Shusuke Smith had been born. Fuji Shusuke however had been born and apparently it was he. In his head he wondered if Eiji had known all along, if the red head had sat back with Smith mocking him and every moment of brotherly affection had actually been a lie? An act conducted between them as to fool him? But what about his memories? They clearly showed Eiji being there, his mother, well his imaginary mother if he was to believe the people around him. He didn't know what to trust or who. The world had turned itself upside down and Fuji didn't know which way to turn.

Moving from underneath the covers he noticed a pile of clean clothes on the chair, presumably put there last night whilst he had been sleeping. Walking slowly over to it he noticed a note on top, a woman's hand by the looks of it. Picking it up he stared at the message. _Someone came over last night and said this was your stuff. I put the rest of your things away in chest of drawers._ Fuji placed the note down on the desk and picked up the first thing from the pile which happened to be one of his t-shirts, a pale cream colour, there was underwear placed underneath on top of one of his pairs of black trousers. Clenching the t-shirt he wondered who could have come around last night and decided to get dressed in the mean time. The clock was already telling him it was 11:34 in the morning and probably a good time to move out of the room that was giving him chills.

Making his way out of the bedroom and down the stairs, he noted the television set sounded like it was on and there were people talking. The phone was disconnected from its hook for what purpose Fuji didn't understand but it seemed unimportant. There was no way he could escape from this place. First he had no idea where he was and where would he go if managed to find his way around Toyko? Certainly not back to Eiji, not as this moment. He felt betrayed by the red head, like part of him had been torn away and thrown into the fires of hell.

Looking at the doorways in front of him, not knowing which way to turn he decided to head towards the closet room which happened to be the living room. Opening the door he noticed there was a strange man there in a shirt and tie, looking very formal. The older woman Fuji had felt such an attachment to yesterday was standing with him. The other three were absent from the room.

"Ah! Is this the young man you were telling me about?" The strange man in the formal attire said giving Fuji a smile. Fuji just gave a nod of his head in reply, wanting to back out of the room at this moment.

"Yes, this is Shusuke." The woman said coming around the sofa and placing her hand on Fuji's right arm giving him a comforting smile. "Shusuke, this is Doctor Cous, he's come to have a look at your wrist and to talk to you for a little bit." The woman gently pulled Fuji around the sofa before placing her hands on his shoulders in an attempt to get him to sit down, to which he did without question. Doctor Cous sat down on Fuji's left side, gently taking the left wrist, which was still in its support bandage, and placed his own soft brown warm hands around it, removing the support bandage. In the background the television set kept on going; a soft volume to it now, but its picture still flickered at the edge of Fuji's vision as he kept an eye on his wrist.

"Now Fuji-kun …" Cous started.

"Can you just call me Shusuke please?" Fuji asked softly, his gaze not moving from his wrist.

"Okay. Now Shusuke can you move your wrist as much as you can forwards for me?" Fuji obeyed, although he stopped at a 45 degree angle when he physically couldn't move it anymore.

"Okay, and back as far as you can please. Well done Shusuke. Now I need you to tighten your hand into a fist, as far as it can go and hold it for me 1… 2… 3… 4…" Shusuke gave a gasp of pain and had to unclench his hand quickly from the not even properly formed fist.

"Okay, that's brilliant Shusuke. I'm just going to gentle probe your wrist now, can you tell me when it hurts?"  
"Yes" the probing started with Fuji giving minor indications on when the doctor touched on a soft spot on his wrist. The doctor then replaced the support bandage around his wrist before taking some notes in the notepad which was resting on the coffee table.

"Okay Shusuke. I want to ask you a few questions as well. Did you ever get this treated whilst you were away?" Fuji shook his head, his gaze once again distracted by the television screen. "How long ago was it originally injured?"

"The summer holidays last year, erm about 7 months ago." Fuji whispered.

"How was it injured? Do you remember about that?" Fuji started to shake his head, an automatic reaction protect Smith but stopped part way through catching himself.

"Uncle … I mean Mr Smith, got drunk one evening and tried to stab Ei…Ei…Eiji," Fuji frowned, why was it so hard to say that traitor's name? "With a knife and I stopped him. Smith got mad and broke my wrist. I didn't tell anyone because I thought it was his right to do it."

"Is Mr Smith the one that brought you too Eng"

"EIJI!" Doctor Cous was interrupted as Fuji gave a shout when he saw the red head he was having troubles with picture turn up on the television screen. Frowning the mother quickly turned up the volume.

"Believed to be one of the biggest and most horrible crimes ever to be committed here in Japan and in Britain, Smith George, the boss of one of the largest growing American Companies, was taken to Tokyo hospital after he returned to Japan presumably to carry on with what he started well over a year and a half ago now. We now go to our correspondent, Sherlockdective99, who is standing outside the hospital right now" The news reporter said before turning to the correspondent who appeared on the screen besides her.

"Right, thank you Midori-Emmi. Yes, well it seems that Kikumaru and Fuji were brought back to Japan by Smith's own son, whose name we are not allowed to disclose due to the minor confidential act, less than a week ago, being kept in a long time friend of the boys house. Smith's son said his reasons for not informing the police was due to the fact that his father was still on the loose and free, and could potentially have harmed the boys further if he knew they were in Japan. So no charges have been brought up from either the Fuji family or the Kikumaru family against the two boys, a correspondent from both families say that they are actually grateful that both boys were willing to take such a risk to keep their sons safe and how hard it must have been for the long time friend to keep such a secret," the reporter took a deep breath before carrying on.

"However it seems things started to go wrong with the public announcement of Fuji-kun's return to his family and Smith somehow found out about the location of Kikumaru-kun. It was unfortunate on this day that the long time friend also wanted to reintroduce Kikumaru-kun back to his friends to see if that would bring out some memories. The declaration from the police is that both boys have suffered a traumatic memory loss and Smith used this opportunity to create false memories within the boys' heads making them believe they were someone else, making the boys think that being beaten by a tennis racket was something they had to accept because he was their uncle. The group of boys that were going to be reunited with Kikumaru-kun met at the old restaurant of Kawamura Sushi. It appears that just moments after they met, Smith, after flying from England in a private aircraft, broke into the restaurant through the back entrance to the private apartment, and according to some statements which have been released, in a highly drunken state. Seemingly whilst trying to attack his own son, Smith had been carrying a glass bottle, and Kawamura-kun was hurt by the fact Smith swung it into the boy's face. The glass however missed the eyes and other vital places and according to hospital reports will recover without a scar." The report then took a quick turn to look at the hospital when there was a quick uproar but nothing more occurred as it was only an elderly patient being discharged.

"Anyway, it seems Kikumaru-kun was also knocked out by Smith before Smith himself was knocked out by, and I know people at home may find it hard to believe, but by tennis balls served by fellow friends of Kikumaru-kun and Fuji-kun. The police have labelled this as self-defence. Kikumaru-kun then suffered a major attack of excess fluids to the back of his head between the brain and skull called a hydrocephalus attack. After being informed by Smith's son that the boy had suffered a few of these, however only one as serious as this, before as shown on some of the hospital records the boy took before leaving Japan, the hospital then got in contact with a Doctor Fraser from Lincolnshire who had dealt with Kikumaru-kun and his previous major attack. However it seems Kikumaru-kun was stabilised quite quickly after that and is now in intensive care as having not woken up from surgery just yet. It is also reported all the friends that went to that meeting last night have been here all night as well. Back to you in the studio Midori-Emmi."  
"Thank you; we have an expert here with us …"

Fuji's mother had turned off the television set quickly after that, Fuji could feel his hands shaking, all thoughts of Eiji being a traitor and doing this as a joke gone. Fuji's face was drained of colour, he could feel tears whelming up in his eyes. All he could think of was that whilst he had been thinking Eiji had betrayed him, the only person, the only one who understood him at the moment had nearly died. Doctor Cous looked at Fuji's mother and gave a deep sigh, accompanied with a frown. "I need to take him to hospital to have that wrist checked out."

* * *

**NANI! I've done something painful to my left wrist ... mou ... I can't remember if I landed on it funny when I fell two days ago ... but it actually hurt to type! Why does my body hate me so? :(  
And yes two more reviewers names appear!**

**walaakongkwenta:** I feel sorry for Taka-san! he was only doing as Kevin asked him to do and because of that he ends up with a face full of glass. Yes and Inui follows with waterfall serve! As for Eiji having his memories back ... hmmm ... I'll let you think about that. As for my shoulder its not so bad, been like this for ages. I can cope for a while longer ...  
**demoncat13: **yep most certainly more Momo. You can't change my mind about that. Lol! I don't blame you! I'll record it for you!  
**ElementalCat:** NYA! Thank you! I'm glad you like it  
**Sherlockdetective99:** No Smith didn't take out Kawamura's eye, just imagine Echizen's cut when against Fudomine and 'the spot' and multiply it a few times. As for Tezuka killing the dinosaurs, he didn't just do that! He decided that instead of escaping from the ship, he would just blow up that part of the world instead ... and why you giving Smith advice about what's smart and what is not?

**REVIEWS PLEASE! And beddy byes for me ... zzzz**


	46. Chapter 46

There was a beeping noise, a faint beeping noise, it sounded like it was coming from the other side of the galaxy but he could hear it. That's all the noise there was, he couldn't see anything. There was just nothing, a blackness, if you could call it that. Nothing existed, just that noise. Curiosity took over him as he almost floated towards it, it sounded so metallic, like a machine. His eyes were hard to open, it was like he was having to reawaken himself in that hospital in England … so many years ago … Fuji had been there and Doctor Fraser … he had said something about his wife being pregnant … Finally Eiji blinked them open and looked upwards, startled to see that not so familiar but comforting face staring down at him, blinking almost at the same rate he was.

"What did I say about cheating?" that voice was Doctor Fraser's; his face was so familiar and comforting that Eiji couldn't help smiling, giving a deep cough as he felt his chest suddenly constrict. He tried to bring his hand up to cover up the coughing when he realised that something was over his mouth and nose. Probably noting his confusion Doctor Fraser removed the oxygen mask, making sure that Eiji could see what it was, placing it down on the bedside cabinet on Eiji's left. Eiji followed the movement and noted that one of those boys who had been at the meeting was sitting in a chair, his head on his chest, presumably dozing. Doctor Fraser looked at the boy and gave a smile, "that boy hasn't left the hospital since you were brought in, in fact the others only went home yesterday. Your family is being forced to eat at the moment by the staff here. You gave everyone a right scare," Eiji frowned as Doctor Fraser walked around him, checking that he was still functioning for some unknown reason.

With a painful effort Eiji pulled himself into a sitting position, panting from the effort, his arms trembling under the rest of his body weight. Closing his eyes to take in deep breaths, someone placed something behind his back and Eiji quickly opened them in alarm, only to realise that Doctor Fraser was placing another pillow behind his back to support him as the top half of the bed as raised. Eiji leant back into it gratefully, trying to think of how he managed to end up in yet another hospital. He had been with Kevin … Shusuke had gone home according to the media … the phone call to Smith … the meeting with those strangers … Smith appearing, he was drunk … Eiji remembered running to try and stop Smith from hurting anyone else but that was it. A huge blank afterwards filled his memory. Looking to his right Eiji was going to glance out of the window to see what time of day it was but stopped when he saw the neighbouring occupied bed. "Shusuke" Eiji croaked in concern, immediately trying to get out of the bed to go to the pale boy but was stopped by Doctor Fraser placing his hands on Eiji's shoulders.

"Not yet mister, you've only just recover yet."

"But …" Eiji was sent off into another coughing fit which allowed for Fraser to quickly get the boy back into bed.

"Breathe Eiji, breathe deeply" his only response was harsh short breaths, as Eiji felt like his chest was being squished in between two ever closing walls, praying that it would stop soon. He bent over his stomach, clutching at it hard, as another bout of coughing took over him. It felt like it would never end! He was briefly aware of the mask being replaced over his mouth and nose, before being pushed back onto the lowered bed. The coughing subsided but Fraser made no attempt to remove the mask.

"We will keep on that on for a little while longer okay Eiji?" Fraser said, not really making it a question which could be answered.

Eiji turned his gaze back to Fuji and trying to take in what he could see. The honey coloured haired boy had an oxygen mask and was pale under the golden sun, his left wrist was heavily wrapped under a bandage, and he was linked up to as many machines and drip as Eiji was himself it seemed.

"Ho… how?" Eiji asked after trying to form the words on his tongue. "And why are you here?" he asked Doctor Fraser who was now bending over Fuji, his little flash light whizzing over Fuji's eyes back and forth, presumably to see if the boy was going to wake up soon. Fraser looked up at Eiji and made a pout.

"Awww, don't you want me here? I feel so offended" he said a dramatic tone and in typical over acting style placed his right hand to his forehead, and pretended to doing the faint. "Fine I'll leave as I am so unloved," Fraser said replacing the pen light back in his white coat pocket and crossing his arms started to stomp towards the doors. The acting did as its intention and Eiji couldn't help but smile.

"Nya! No! I didn't mean it like that," he protested and Fraser stopped, dropping his arms. Eiji took a quick glance to the person on his right to see if he had woken up but the black haired boy just kept on dozing. Eiji couldn't see his face so he couldn't say who it was, if he even remembered them like they claimed he should.

"I know, and you look better with that smile on your face Eiji," Eiji's gaze was quickly diverted back to Doctor Fraser who stood smiling before coming to sit down on the right hand edge of his bed. "You had another attack Eiji after being knocked unconscious by Smith and none of the staff knew how to deal with it here, one or two maybe but not with someone as young as yourself and they panicked until they got hold of me at home." Fraser clicked his fingers suddenly, "by the way, my wife's had her babies, good and healthy. I allowed her to name one Eiji as long as the other one was called Shusuke; she seemed happy with it and is probably spoiling them rotten at the moment. According to her they are the most adorable two beings on the planet; according to me they are the nosiest, never heard one child make so much noise, never mind two. Anyway I had to talk them through with it over the phone and they booked me a flight over here and a hotel to stay in, I packed some clothes and here I am monitoring you and Shusuke after I took over from his family doctor. In return I have to teach a lecture on how to deal with cases like yours. Your first attack was coming up to about six days ago now Eiji and you had another one about two days after that. You've been unconsciousness since you were knocked out, did anyone tell you that running into a fist is never a good idea?" Fraser leant over smiling and poked Eiji in the forehead to which Eiji rubbed it quickly, giving another smile in return.

"Yeah, but I don't think I paid attention in that lesson." Eiji replied, giving a small laugh, Fraser gave a short burst of breath and rolled his head, throwing his hands up, making Eiji slightly more.

Eiji quickly turned his gaze back to Fuji wishing the boy would wake up, he didn't care that he may not be his brother anymore, he just didn't care. He just wanted Shusuke back for a few moments. Maybe they could cope with this future together, it seemed inventible that they would have to face it but Eiji wanted to do with the fellow support of his once-twin-brother. Doctor Fraser followed his gaze.

"It seems Shusuke's wrist was previously broken and healed wrongly," Fraser said with a sigh to which Eiji turned his gaze back to Fraser with fear in his eyes. Fraser quickly looked surprised. "But that's understandable! If he didn't get medical treatment for it then it would more than likely heal wrongly. A high percentage chance and I'm surprised he managed to have it healed at all. Whoever treated it first did a brilliant job and he was lucky to even be able to use it." Eiji calmed down at those words, glad he was able to do somewhat of a good job. Fraser continued "In fact if it had been a worse job, it would be likely that no surgery could have healed it. But the staff was able to get him a surgery date very quickly due to another person cancelling and he was put under this morning and it was re-broken, this time to heal correctly. They used some heavy stuff so he wouldn't wake up when they were re-breaking it. In those circumstances it's more painful than the first break. So he shouldn't be waking up for a couple more hours just yet but until your both well on the road to recovery I am your doctor and away from some very noisy twin babies," Fraser added with a growl. "I might get a decent night sleep soon and you won't be stuck with a cranky Doctor Fraser." Eiji gave another laugh, trying to image a cranky Doctor Fraser.

Fraser gave a long sigh and turned his gaze to the window. "Eiji, why didn't you tell me about Smith? Or the living conditions you were in? Or the fact you weren't even related to him in anyway?" Eiji bit his lip and shook his head. In truth he didn't know, he couldn't think of any reason. Removing the oxygen mask as it was getting uncomfortable; Eiji took a deep breath in of the hospital air.

"I don't know. According to Kevin and Taka-san, he asked us to call him that, the memories Shusuke and I have are false, they aren't real. But I can remember things that conflict with what everyone says, I remember having a mother that doesn't exist, I remember having Shusuke there besides me all my life, I remember Unc… Smith coming over everyday to the house. I even have a memory of him beating our mother up one day. I remember her saying that we should cope with the beatings because he had given us so much and we must not tell anyone but apparently that's all wrong." Eiji looked dejected, turning his gaze towards the window. "Everything I remember is wrong and I don't remember anything which according to everyone is right!" He said getting frustrated with himself and he could feel his hands clenching at the blue sheets. He was surprised when he felt movement of a hair strand that had fallen on to his face and looked up to Fraser standing there giving a gentle smile. For a moment Eiji felt the urge to hug the doctor.

"Hey, don't worry. You have some very loyal friends; one of them even took half a face full of glass for you..."

"Taka-san! How is he?" Eiji remembered the blood briefly. Fraser tilted his head.

"The one who took the glass bottle? He's fine, no permanent damage. All glass shards were removed successfully and all the wounds have been stitched, so there will be no scars. He is very lucky it missed his eye. One got very close." Eiji sighed in relief, eyes narrowing as the same piece of hair fell into his vision. Chuckling Fraser removed it. "But like I was saying Eiji, you have some loyal friends and a very anxious family and at last but not least, you have Shusuke. He sat with you right up until his surgery date; no one could move him, not even his very anxious mother. He's never going to leave you, you should have the heard questions he was asking when he arrived, it was lucky for him I arrived at the same time. You have a loyal friend Eiji. Now get some sleep. I'll check on you later. The head nurse will have my head for keeping you up this long. I need to inform your family." Eiji looked over the black haired boy; surprised he hadn't woken at all before nodding his head and closing his eyes he felt the pull of sleep over take him. As he did he swore he heard Doctor Fraser saying something more.

"Brothers don't have to share the same blood Eiji."

* * *

**Right, nurse tomorrow. I can't stand this annoying pain ... is this Fuji's way of paying me back for Smith breaking his wrist? NYA! Fuji!**  
**Doctor Fraser is back for a while! WOOP!**  
**OH! Did anyone spot a certain word in this chapter? A very speific word, only used once in this chapter but did you spot it?**

**demoncat13:** I did as you asked, I was going to do it anyway but there we go. Hoi, I need the sleep. Its better than being in pain...  
**Sherlockdetective99: **I only give spots in this story to people who have reviewed enough on this story! I enjoy rewarding reviewers like you and no unfortunately I am not okay and its getting painful to type, so this chapter was some what of a toture for me  
**walaakongkwenta: **Yes you guessed the missing item, it will reappear in this story sometime soon. I don't like Atobe, which is why he has only appeared as third party referenced in this story, I'm sorry I don't. No Coach Smith is not dead, he is most certainly not dead.  
**Midori-Emmi: **I like rewarding my reviewers in that way, just brief spots in the story but you still appear. And Lol! My reviewers are dancing together ... and I did as you asked, it made it somewhat easier to type this chapter and yes slyest is a word and I updated!  
**ElementalCat:** I'm hitting the history books this weekend and the english books tomorrow so I know how you feel. Not the most interesting task although I chose to study those two subjects!  
**eijikikumarufan01: **Try Doctor Fraser! I like him better than Doctor Cous ... by a long shot. You play tennis as well? How do you do so much? Thanks for the info on Fuji's mum and yeah they probably do have vending machines like every corner of the street

**Review please! And tell me if you spotted the word!**


	47. Chapter 47

Fuji's head was killing him, like he had run into a wall for some unknown reason. He opened his eyes slowly and blinked them shut again. Why did everything have to be so bright? And white on the matter of fact. Didn't hospitals know that it made it seem even brighter? He placed his right hand up to his forehead and rubbed at it, frowning as he felt the tugging from the back of it. Slowly he blinked open his eyes, wincing and blinking to have his eyes get used to the streaming sun coming through the blinds at the window on his right. In the back of his hand was the end of a drip and Fuji followed it up to the bag, trying to think of how he managed to get into a hospital. His memory was hazy from before he woke up and it was currently too much energy to try and remember. He spotted a tall figure's shadow standing in the way of the sunlight on the floor and tried wincing to make out the fuzzy person as he looked up at the tall form. The person came forwards and was moving his hand about what looked like inside of yet another white thing. Fuji watched the fuzzy person lean over him with a small object in his hand, it quickly turned on. Fuji quickly shut his eyes again turning his head away to the left placing his right hand over his eyes to cover them from further attempts.

"Come on Shusuke. I need you to look at me; it's only for a couple of seconds I promise you." There was a chuckle as Fuji firmly shook his head. "You're worse than Eiji for a patient and I thought that was hard to beat."  
"Hey!" came a shout from somewhere on Fuji's left, close by the sounds of it. It took a small while for the words to register and the voice to sink in but as they did Fuji moved his hand slightly and opened his eyes to see a certain red head, propped up on pillows and the tilted bed head looking at him. Staring at Eiji Fuji's sight came back into focus and everything wasn't so bright anymore. Behind Eiji there was a group of people, totalling three. Fuji recognized them as the people whom had been at the hospital from the moment Eiji had been brought in, or at least that was what he had been told. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned his gaze back to the kind comforting face of Doctor Fraser who was still holding the torch in his hand.

"Come on Shusuke. I have to do it." The doctor said tilting his head and Fuji gave a short glare before sighing and letting the doctor have his way. Fraser passed the light over his eyes, probably checking to see if there was any signs of the stuff they knocked him … the memories came flooding back to Fuji and he sat up quickly, much to the protest of his left wrist. Fraser watched as his torch was knocked out of his hands and rolled on the floor. "Well I'm glad that happened after I checked everything."

Fuji glanced down to his left wrist and saw the white cast wrapped around it, solid and hard. The surgery, they had re-broken his wrist but they had put him to sleep first. Fuji shook his head to clear any remaining clutter away.

"Are you alright Shusuke?" Fuji looked up at Eiji who looked like he was on the verge of getting out of the bed he was in and coming over but was being restrained by one of the boys … Fuji struggled to remember his name, there had been six of them in total. He had met some of them whilst giving a call on Taka-san and the others had appeared whilst he had with Eiji. If he remembered correctly the one that had his hand on Eiji's shoulder was called … Oishi and there was Tezuka, the tall stoic boy and the one sitting in the chair, he was Momo if he remembered rightly. Fuji nodded his head in reply to Eiji.

"Are you alright Eiji? I mean after the…" he was cut off quite quickly.

"Shusuke! I've been awake since yesterday, I'm fine and Doctor Fraser is looking after us" Eiji protested, settling back into the bed. Fuji looked confused and started looking for a clock.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"About 2pm in the afternoon, although my body is saying its 10pm and time to go to sleep" Doctor Fraser said from his position of standing in between Fuji's and Eiji's bed, arms crossed, and Eiji giggled when the man started to yawn. "Do one of you two want to swap?" he asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Eiji shook his head.

"Nope. It's nice and comfy" Fuji just didn't say anything, giving a small grin in reply. Fraser pouted and tried to look dejected which failed miserably.

"Fine, meanies." Fraser said stretching. He turned and started towards the door, "I'm going to inform your family that you're awake Shusuke! So don't run away! Eiji watch him" Doctor Fraser said pointing at the honey coloured hair boy who was faintly embarrassed by the display but said nothing. He couldn't expect anything else out of Doctor Fraser.

"Shusuke!" Eiji called excitedly and started bouncing in the bed. "I met my family this morning and I saw yours. They seem really nice. Oh and Ushio called this morning, she said she misses us and wishes she helped us. I miss Ushio" He said, the last part somewhat sadly. He looked probably looked over the moon right now but Fuji could see the haunting look in Eiji's eyes, the fear that he was so desperately trying to hide from everyone. Fuji could understand the hidden words underneath that sentence which roughly translated to 'I don't know them and I am scared of what the future will bring'. Nodding his head Fuji tried to show his own understanding. Although not brothers in blood, they still had been long enough together to understand one another like they had been together for a lifetime and to Fuji; it already felt like he had experienced enough to fill anyone's satisfaction of adventure. But the scary part still remained ahead.

* * *

**Gomen. Such a short chapter and nothing really happens in it. I went to the nurse today and she has told me I need to go to A&E to have it checked over. It really hurts after typing for a while, so this took a while.**

**eijikikumarufan01:** Try Nya! It appeared in the last chapter!  
**ElementalCat:** Which is why I am doing a history and english degree at uni! Oh maths has always been an interesting subject to talk about in my family  
**Midori-Emmi: **Sorry not tonight ... maybe not for a little while. Not really confident about doing other schools and with my wrist it would be more hell than I can probably take.  
**BF:** You are the odd one out. But I wouldn't blame Fraser for that, I would blame the surgeons. Fraser has no need to look at Eiji's back if the surgeons are dealing with Eiji's head and it's up to the surgeons to point out whether there are marks on the back or not. Did Eiji say Fuji? It was actually Nya. I need to have another look at that chapter  
**walaakongkwenta: **Not all of the regulars and they don't say much in this chapter. Gomen. I can't do much with this wrist ...  
**Erigay: **Hello! And yes your right with the nya! Can't say much else  
**demoncat13:** I gather you like Fraser ... and correct!

**Reviews if you wish. For me its bed and sleep and more sleep than last night when I got 3-4 hours! I had to sleep during the day to catch up**


	48. Chapter 48

Eiji drummed his fingers against his knees as he sat against the wall, knees tucked up tight against him, with his left arm wrapped around to keep them in their tight position. He was staring to his right, out of the window in his room, a pout formed on his face. It had been a few days since he had been admitted out of hospital and so far he had only seen the inside of this house and this room, which apparently was his but he couldn't remember anything. In the corner there was a light pale blue blanket which had been thrown over something big. Eiji remembered how he couldn't sleep that first night he got there and the big teddy bear had been very unnerving and didn't actually help, so it had been shoved away and covered. Ushio's second teddy had been the one to accompany him into bed, pressed tightly against him, the dark brown fur comforting him. The first teddy, the one that had been shot, was wrapped in a t-shirt tightly; it was a precious thing, the first teddy bear, it's honey coloured fur always remained him of his, once upon a time in a place that he felt that he had been sure he had known, twin. The room itself was, well large compared to his last room, much larger and it felt empty to Eiji, he was used to having to share a room with a certain honey brown haired boy but now that was gone. All of it was gone; nothing remained of his previous life apart from painful and dark memories which gave him the shivers late at night when his mother or father opened the door to check on him, check he was still, check he was real, and probably check he was still their son and not someone else's. He didn't feel like he was their son, but apparently according to the egghead shaped boy, called Oishi, he had another four siblings as well. They were all in Osaka as they finished their year of school and were trying to get transfers to local schools. Eiji had yet to see them as he had heard his father insist over the phone that they would cause too much trouble at the moment, with the house really only liveable for three people; most of the rooms were devoid of furniture. It also felt like it had been devoid of life as well for a long time even though no dust had been found anywhere he looked.

After spending nearly a week in hospital after he had woken up, six after Fuji had reawakened from being put to sleep, he had been taken back to this place. Since then he had mainly looked at photographs which he could notably say was him at different ages. Unsurprisingly most of the elder ones were of him holding a tennis racket, two different ones if his eyes didn't deceive him. It had been a good excuse at first to avoid the mothering of the woman and the concerned eye of the elder man. He had expected to be punished for his action but nothing had come; in fact when ever he seemingly prepared himself for a lashing of something or one of them to raise a knife at him or to lock him in one of the unfurnished rooms they simply smiled and left it alone. Eiji could also see the fear that they tried to mask and saw the way they tiptoed around him, treating him like a fragile glass doll that could break at any second under any tiny amount of pressure. He felt more comfortable in what was apparently his room than anywhere in the house.

Lose photos and various photo albums lay out before him on the bed but he hadn't really attempted to look at them today. He had probably seen them a million times over and more; or at least it felt like he had. It was the only thing to do in this room, in this house even. His parents hadn't let any of those seven boys come over, he had heard them call several times, hearing their voices coming up the stairs but they had always been answered with 'can you wait a few more days?' Fuji had been released from hospital almost the day after him, he had been told that by Doctor Fraser but his parents didn't seem keen to give him the number and had out right refused, saying it would probably be better if they didn't talk to one another for a while. They didn't say how long. A call from one of the seven boys later on in the day, Eiji presumed from the voices it was Momo and Oishi, the later was so far the most common visitor, calling in the morning and the evening of each day, sometimes in the middle of the day as well. It was a failed attempt to see him and it had only been the first day after he had been released so he hadn't been bothered too much. Eiji had over heard that Shusuke wasn't allowed anywhere near the phone either and according to Momo they weren't too keen on having Shusuke have contact with Eiji at the moment. So even if Eiji had been able to get hold of a phone, he wouldn't be able to dial the Fuji's house number because he didn't know and he would have probably got an excuse for Shusuke not to come to the phone.

"Nya!" Eiji pushed himself off the bed in one fair swoop, coming out of the curled position he had been in, landing with both feet on the floor lightly. Shaking his head Eiji frowned, he didn't know why he kept on making that sound but it was becoming natural to him, and he couldn't stop himself sometimes, although most of the time he caught himself from doing it. A few, just like now, slipped out of his mouth, once in front of his parents which had been slightly embarrassing. Walking over to the window, he tilted the blinds slightly to an upward angle and placing two of his left hand fingers in between the slats opened it further so he could peak outside. The media still surrounded the house, although not as many today as it was Smith's trial. His parents, and once again knowledge from over hearing Oishi, Shusuke's parents as well, had asked for the police to take all statements here and any evidence from the boys at the house so they wouldn't have to attend the court.

The evidence against Smith was overwhelming and listening to Taka-san when he had come over the once, he had been the one that had stayed most away from them, probably feeling guilty over what had happened before he and Shusuke was found, Kevin had overthrown his father and taken over the business. If the trial was successful and Smith was found guilty Kevin would gain the house in Lincolnshire and then sell it, giving half the funding to Eiji and the other half to Fuji. With all the evidence stacked against Smith, the police had said that the lawyer had taken the charge of 'guilty under the cause of insanity.' The likely hood of that happening was high the police had pointed out, even mentioning someone else had taken that plea earlier and got away with it under a lighter burden. Moving away from the window Eiji bit his lip, Saotome they had said the other man's name was. Saotome, that name made his body stiff automatically with just the thought of it. It rang a bell somewhere but he couldn't give an exact reason why it did, only that it was part of something he couldn't remember and it made some of the old scars ache in pain, mainly the long one which etched across his spine, from the edge of his right shoulder blade to his left. The seven other boys who had stayed with Shusuke and him through out the hospital visit had gone to the court and so had his father and mother after much hesitation over who would look after Eiji whilst they were gone. Currently it was one set of his grandparents; apparently his brothers and sisters lived with the other set. He found the elder couple much more relaxed than his parents but even so he remained in his room. It was the only place he felt comfort and there was little of it, without the honey haired coloured boy who had been with him forever as it seemed in his 'wrong' set of memories as everyone was keen to point out.

Grabbing the teddy bear from the top of his bed, Eiji walked out of the door leading into the hallway, he had completed the white paperwork on his desk allowing him to take his English exams early and thus be able to go to a Japanese school. It was more on forced from his parents but he knew as he was completing it he would probably never see Ushio again unless he managed to gain a job or position that paid him a decent amount. Although Smith was no longer there to enforce the idea of becoming a professional, Eiji still wanted to do it. Apart from cooking and Shusuke, it was the only firm thing in his life that he could hold on to and could excel at, cooking he could only get so far in, Eiji knew he wasn't talented enough to become a professional in that. Tennis also felt secure to him, comforting, and reassuring. As he made his way down the stairs, the teddy tucked in the nook between his right elbow and his chest there was a knock on the front door. Eiji looked up startled and within a few seconds had raced to it. There was no way he was going to pass up to talk to someone else, his parents might be fast and get there before he would even blink but his grandparents were not and he was going to take that opportunity. He didn't care if it was the media; Eiji just wanted someone else to talk to. His memories weren't coming back with the photographs. Sliding the door open, Eiji stared at the visitor before him.

* * *

**I'm back! My left wrist no longer pains me, well it stopped paining me a while ago (like wednesday) but combined with coursework I had to do I didn't want to take the risk. I also had to travel on saturday with a suitcase and had a friend over who I haven't seen since Christmas, and yesterday fanfiction had an error which wouldn't let me log on. But yeah! I am back now! So two chapters today for you people! Thank you all for your concerns and wishes for good health **

**eijikikumarufan01:** Yeah I would probably do the same as Fuji. It's fine you didn't see the Nya in it, some people didn't. I had to read it carefully when re-reading it, i didn't realise I had embedded it that well  
**yume229:** Well we had rats for a while but its all clean now! So all good!  
**Sherlockdetective99:** They aren't getting their memories back from playing tennis alone, but first Eiji and Fuji have got to be able to see one another and the other regulars!  
**ElementalCat:** Ouch, homework and yes the team _were_ together again. Obessive parents  
**demoncat13:** Yeah it was fluff. Alot of fluff

**REVIEW FOR MY FIRST CHAPTER BACK FROM MY HAITUS! Please!**


	49. ignore

**Okay with the chapter for 49, I tried to delete the haitus but it didn't work. So what has happened is that Chapter 48 has been replaced! I will put this up in place of 49  
**


	50. Chapter 49

Fuji had decided to take matters into his own hands. He was tired of not being able to do anything in the house and not being able to contact anyone. He had already been missing Eiji's presence a couple of hours after the red head had been released from the hospital. The whole of the bottom part of his left arm was wrapped in a hospital version of a support bandage and wrapped tightly against his chest so he couldn't move it. It had provided an interesting challenge the first time he had been able to dress himself without a nurse or a member of his family being there to help him. But he was glad for that fact; he didn't want to become independent on anyone at the moment. Much like what had been done in Taka-san's place he had pictures and photographs thrown at him left, right and centre, he had learnt to ignore them after glance over them. It was less painful to think that way he had been living a lie of a life and his memories had betrayed him. He had once looked for a phone but his parents and siblings had locked them away behind closed doors. The house slightly reminded him of Smith and the house in Lincolnshire where he knew where everything was, how the day went to a schedule. Here, it seemed nothing like that existed, yes there was school for his brother and sister but that seemed to be the only thing that was set in stone. The man who called himself Fuji's father worked from home in his small study which Fuji had peeked into just the once.

On his window sill sat the most curious object he had found in this house, a cactus. Fuji knew he liked cactus and so when he had woken up and seen a real life cactus there, soaking up the sunlight on the wooden window sill, it had come as a great shock to him. He couldn't remember owning a cactus whilst under Smith's rule, but it drew him in, a comforting aura filling him and sometimes when he stared at it, if he looked long enough he could swear he could hear whisperings of some other time that he could not capture. The whisperings sometimes filled his dreams but these were quickly followed by a crash sense of an overwhelming pain. A tingling at first which travel slowly up his legs, before capturing the bottom of his spine in a cold dark grip and he would be pulled slowly backwards, that cold vice snake grip pulling him in. Blood would surround him in sent, making his throat close under the pressure of the sweet dripping sounds of tiny red droplets, drip, drip, dripping to the ground. Sweat and heat would pour from his body, his body would become cold like he had chucked into the icy cold depths of the north polar ice cap, freezing him, making him unable to move. Not enough oxygen to fill the lungs, a gasp, the heart being squeezed tightly, the lungs as a hand twisted into his chest and pulled them harshly against the chest, each rib screaming under the pain of keeping them in. And even the dark world which he experienced these nightmares in would tilt and twist and turn, a room would appear and it would be fuzzy, colours would blur into one another, double images would appear, his eyes would hurt and just as he managed to close them, he awoke gasping for that sweet precious air. It would only be his unfamiliar room which would greet him; nothing else. Although his mind screamed at him to throw the plant out or put it somewhere out of site, Fuji found he rather liked it standing there and once even found himself watering the thing, although he hadn't realised first how he got there, second how he got the watering can in his right hand and third where had known the watering can was!

What some people would have called a pleasant, mild and calm couple of days Fuji would have called like living in a prison. He didn't feel like he could have even a simple conversation with anyone in his family just yet, it was more shakes of the heads, and nods, followed by one word answers if he could avoid giving a long winded sentence. The boys of Seigaku, whom he had got to know a little better whilst waiting for Eiji to wake up from his attack, had tried to come over, including those from the middle school as well as the high school. They had been refused access at the door but they kept trying, they were always trying. But the solitude without Eiji being there had finally made Fuji snap only an hour ago. For that moment he didn't care if he didn't know about the street layout, or that he didn't even know where he lived, never mind Eiji, but he was getting out of the house, away from the protective family (his parents were at the trial and his brother was at school, which only left his sister to look after him and she had been busying making something to eat).

So thus he found himself in a difficult position, after sneaking out the back way of the house, after pulling on a jacket, avoiding all the press that were still gathered outside, even though they couldn't really take any pictures of him as he was a minor. It had involved a lot of awkward climbing out of his father's study window, and out through the hedgerow at the back of the garden. He then just run, so he could feel the air rushing past him, its cool soothing embrace had reminded him of that woman, the one who said she was his mother and when ever she hugged him and he was able to accept it. Unrecognized in the busy street he had managed to land on, he had taken a direction towards what he gathered would be the east of the city. It was as he was coming up to a busy park that he had managed to bump into someone, as he was distracted by the laughing children who were running around on their free day off school.

It was were he was currently, feeling rather sore on the underside and being unable to do much about it without keeping some type of dignity. Fuji blinked and scrambled back in a hurry when he looked up and there was a worried face in front of him, the movement had been more from surprise rather than trying to get away from the person, or the group of people.

"Gomen, I didn't mean to bump into you. You didn't hurt yourself did you Fuji?" Fuji titled his head to the right and smiled as Oishi knelt there looking rather concerned with an out reached hand. Fuji bit his lip and Oishi pulled both them up. Fuji shook his head in answer to the question. Tezuka stood only a couple of steps away with Inui who had his notebook open and was hurriedly writing in it. "Are you here alone Fuji?" Oishi asked looking around for what the honey haired coloured boy presumed to be his family.

"I wanted to do something without my family being there; otherwise they would have stopped me." Fuji replied, not wanting to mention he was also lost, that would be embarrassing and he would probably not live it down seeing as he wanted to convince his parents that going to Seigaku high school would be better than being home schooled.

"Kikumaru's house is in the other direction," Tezuka said pulling the information out of nowhere, giving Fuji a private surprise which he refused to show. Oishi stared at the captain of the high school tennis team for only a few seconds before turning back to Fuji.

"Oh you wanting to see Eiji?" Oishi asked slowly, "I don't know if you would be able to. We've not been able to see him since he was released from hospital." The vice captain's face flashed with a show of extreme sadness and Fuji felt his heart clench in pity.

"I'm going to see him," Fuji said firmly placing his currently only free hand, his right hand, on Oishi's left shoulder. "But I would … "

"Like some help getting there?" Oishi finished after the tensai had trailed off. Fuji nodded gratefully and Oishi looked around at Tezuka and Inui, the captain giving a nod. What that indicated Fuji had no idea but Oishi had started to lead him gently in the opposite direction, presumably towards Eiji's house. Fuji still couldn't get used to the idea that Eiji and he lived in separate houses.

It hadn't taken long; about 15 minutes walk from where Fuji had bumped into the others but however much he tried Fuji couldn't remember all the twists and turns of the roads and thus couldn't remember any of the route to Eiji's house. It was Inui who had pointed out the house to Fuji as they came into sight of it. It was ordinary and plain, if slightly unloved in some areas. The media seemed to have taken up residence around the side of the house and so with some well planned sneaking they managed to get to the front door without anyone realising. As Oishi knocked on the door, Fuji wasn't able to as his right hand began to shake uncontrollably for some unknown reason, there was a scurried amount of footsteps and the door flew open. The group outside stared in amazement at the amount of noise it had taken for the door to open as standing there was a scruffy haired red head boy staring right back at them.

* * *

**AHHH! Tried to update this last night but I couldn't log on ... so sorry! Hopefully two chapters today! And the people at the door are revealed!**

**ElementalCat:** Thank you for pointing that out, I changed it. Yes my wrist is all healed which means I can finish this story and start a new one! Oh and no school work to interput me  
**demoncat13:** What was quick? I spent about 10 days before I updated with a new chapter, that's 10 chapters I missed out on typing for you lot :(  
**eijikikumarufan01:** Hmm, a question came to my mind when I was typing that out. Does that bear actually belong to Eiji? I don't think it's ever confirmed in the manga, Oishi just says its a bear in Eiji's house which falls over a lot. And yes the parents maybe hindering Fuji and Eiji rather than helping them. As for Kevin, he now owns a multi-million dollar company, I think he can afford to spilt the cost of the house, even more so after what his father did.

**REVIEWIES PLEASE! WEEEEEEEEEEE!**


	51. Chapter 50

Eiji blinked twice as he stared at Fuji; the later just stared back in confusion, eyes wide open. Why was Eiji surprised to see him? Fuji was suddenly grabbed by the red head by his right arm and dragged into the house rather quickly, noticeably followed by Eiji grabbing the other three as well and pulling them in, shutting the door quickly behind them. Fuji pondered over the reason why the red head seemed in so much of a hurry to get them into the house until he heard someone clearing his throat from one of the doorways. An elderly man stood there, his right resting on the door way, his back was stiff and his eyes were staring down the group Eiji had dragged in, literally. Eiji turned his back to the group to look at the elder man.

"Eiji, what are you doing?" Fuji could hear the under lying warning tone to the voice, and suddenly coming here and standing in the hallway didn't seem so welcoming and pleasing as he originally thought. He took a step back unconsciously, he didn't want to be punished for coming around, and ended up backing into someone. He glanced back in alarm as he stared at the figure, his arms already getting instinctively into the position of protecting himself, as his memory relayed to himself the time of when he had done that to Smith on the courts. That dominant man who occupied his memories of his time in England and for Fuji, seemingly most of his life, had been holding a tennis racket at the time. It had been one of the instances that Fuji had forced himself to tell the police. That had been a painful moment at the hospital because it went against all his memories of his 'mother' telling him that he should just accept it and be grateful for what they had been given by 'Uncle' Smith. It was the instinctive movement of his arms that brought him back from the memories as he hissed with pain when his left arm trembled in pain as it had pushed against the bandage that wrapped it tightly to his chest.

Fuji clutched at his left arm tightly as he sank to the floor, his body trembling, his eyes closed by themselves. The pain felt like a thin well sharpened knife was cutting into the skin, sinking just below the surface and running along slowly around the wrist, blood droplets following the knife like a silk web clinging to the end of the spider. How a wrist which had been broken could such longing, almost sweet after pain so long after it being broken was beyond Fuji's mind at that moment. He barely registered that there were people kneeling next to him. It felt worse than when it had been healing wrong. Then it had been constant, he could get used to it, but now … he was briefly aware that he was being pulled into someone's arms and held tightly. Slowly, ever so slowly the pain went away and he was brought back to the now painless reality. He slowly opened his eyes to notice that Eiji was the one holding him, Fuji's head was resting on the red head's shoulder, so the first thing he saw was a mass of red hairs with flicks at the end. Fuji realised that he was pressed against Eiji's chest and gently pushed away with his right hand which had been holding his left wrist tightly.

Fuji was tilted away from Eiji's chest as he felt the stiffened arms, which had previously held him so very tight in that warm comforting embrace that he had missed for such a long time, relax underneath him. He then noticed that Oishi was bending down on his left side; incredibly paled faced. In front of him was bent the elder man along with an elderly woman standing where the man had been at the door archway, presumably moving forwards after he collapsed to the ground. Fuji couldn't be sure although. He still wanted to know who he had bumped into.

"Are you alright Fuji?" Oishi asked; the worry noticeable in his voice even to Fuji's still slightly hazed pained mind. The honey coloured haired boy nodded as the elderly man in front of him spoke. Fuji hazarded a guess it was one of Eiji's grandfathers.

"You shouldn't be moving that arm Fuji-kun. Not after what I've heard been done to it," the man had grey hair combed over and a numerous number of wrinkles across his face. The man stood slowly, "I think it might be best if you took a lie down in the living room whilst I call your house …"

"No please don't!" Fuji interrupted launching himself out of Eiji's arms into a sitting position on the hard wooden floorboards, hissing in pain as his wrist jar with the sudden movement, quickly clutching at the wrist again. He unsurprisingly found himself in another tight hug, expect this time he was sitting up but once again looking up at the elder man. "Please don't. My parents are at the trial and my brother is at school. My sister's car is in for its testing and she would only panic if she knew I wasn't there." Fuji admitted, feeling slightly guilty but he refused to move his gaze from the old man's eyes.

"Don't you think she'll panic anyway when she realises that your not there anyway and doesn't know where you are? If I phone her then she will at least know you're over here." The man replied.

"Then you'll let everyone stay over?" Fuji had opened his mouth to make a reply but had been beaten to it by Eiji. "Please, let them stay over. I'm not gaining anything by looking at the pictures and I've missed talking to these guys and I've missed Shusuke! Please grandpa!" Eiji begged, holding Fuji very tightly.

"Only if Fuji-kun's sister agrees and then I will be phoning your parents' mobiles Eiji so they can inform Fuji-kun's. Okay?" Both Eiji and Fuji nodded their heads in unison. "And if Eiji's parents say you can't stay, then you need to leave?" The old man pointed to behind Fuji and Fuji followed his gaze to realise that Oishi, Inui and Tezuka were still standing there. Fuji pondered to himself for a few seconds, was it Tezuka whom he had bumped into? But his thoughts were broken by the sound of a happy Oishi making an agreement.

"Alright, now you boys go and help Fuji-kun into the living room. My bones are old and creaking." The old man waved his hand and Oishi came forwards, helping Fuji up and supporting him on his left side. Eiji supported tensai's right side by grabbing Fuji's right arm and looping it back over his shoulders taking him towards the room where the elderly woman had now moved from and was making her way over to the old man's side, presumably whispering something as Fuji picked up hushed words but could not make out clearly as the group of five walked into the living room. Fuji felt himself being lowered, slowly as not to move his wrist anymore, onto the corner sofa, his head hitting the soft substance of a cushion. Eiji quickly moved next to him and was sat with his legs curled underneath him as Tezuka, Oishi and Inui made themselves comfortable in the room, which compromised of Inui sitting on the end of the sofa scurrying something down in his green notebook, Oishi and Tezuka kneeling on the floor behind the coffee table.

"Why didn't either of you answer the door when I came around to visit you?" Oishi asked finally breaking an awkward silence which had settled over them for a small period of time.

"I didn't mean to ignore all of you, it's just my parents wouldn't let me answer it and was always at the door before I was. Nya! It's like they are trying to lock me away in this house forever looking at photographs!" Eiji said ending his statement in a pout which looked very childish on his face. Fuji nodded his head in agreement.

"Mine wouldn't let me either. They wouldn't even let me get near the phone so I could talk to Eiji. They used my arm as an excuse. They made me look at photographs as well but it wasn't doing anything to help." Fuji commented. Oishi nodded looking slightly happier at the fact he was turned away by the parents and not Fuji and Eiji themselves.

"Nya! But the photographs aren't working! I'm not gaining anything from looking at them and the bear in my room scares me." Eiji muttered slightly.

"Daigoro?" Oishi asked looking surprised at Eiji, "but you love that bear … well used to." The boy looked dejected all over again.

"I'm sorry Oishi. It's just big and it scares me because of the way the light would fall on it would remind me of when Unc… Smith," Eiji corrected himself, "would come into our room and he was very drunk. I tried moving it but it still reminded me of him." The red head boy shuddered visibly. Fuji could understand why, the times in the cupboard and in the times when Smith burst into their room late at night drunk out of his mind was the scariest. Fuji ran his hand though his hair as he remembered the red hot iron pain of Smith grabbing it and dragging him down the stairs often to start chucking things at him. The only good thing that came out of that was that Eiji would never have to suffer badly from those nights because Smith couldn't reach the top bunk easily where Eiji used to sleep. "I just want to play tennis again. For a little while; my body feels weird from not playing it in ages but I don't think my parents will let me" Eiji finished.

"Don't you have to come to Seigaku high school in order to do your English exams?" Inui pointed out and Eiji and Fuji nodded.

"Well you could see if you parents will let you play then but for now it might be just best to not to play tennis Eiji. Fuji can't play at the moment because of his wrist and … and Tokyo is almost a new city to you two, so you wouldn't know where the courts are or how things are regulated here." Oishi said looking in concern at the pair in the corner of the corner sofa.

"It would also be letting your guard down and letting other schools have a look at your skill." Tezuka finished. Fuji looked up in time for Eiji to give a sigh and his shoulders to drop.

"Saa Eiji it won't be for that long." Fuji said comfortingly, in truth he felt disappointed by the truth as well but he didn't let that show. Eiji nodded his head perking up again.

"Okay!" the red head said as a smile spread across his face. A natural smile, which made Fuji feel warm and comfortable there, next to his 'twin'.

* * *

**Sorry about not updating yesterday/today. Hard to get back into the swing of things and I was going to meet someone today so I needed to be up early so it meant an early night. But I bring you this chapter! O_O I made Daigoro scary for Eiji! GOMEN! I don't know why I did that ...**

**walaakongkwenta:** Yeah for some reason it wouldn't let anyone do it for that. I think the separation is hindering and hurting more than it is helping and those two really can't stay away from each other for too long! They've been together for so long now that they kind of need each other  
**Maya:** NEW REVIEWER! HOI! HOI! MAYA-CHAN! Welcome!  
**eijikikumarufan01:** Yeah I love that bit with Tezuka ^-^ one of my favourite bits so far! Its done in the musical as well as the manga and anime of what I have read, so I think it's implied that it's Eiji's bear but never actually said.  
**ElementalCat :** I've had enough tests, don't worry! And it wasn't 50 chapters on my last update, its 50 chapters now according to fanfic ^-^. Oh when's your birthday?  
**demoncat13:**All I think I did was lightly sprain it! It was nothing big and major impacting. I think it's called a memory block XD

**REVIEW PLEASIE! Please?**


	52. Chapter 51

Yuuta picked up the ball with his right hand, his racket in his left. Sighing he chucked up in the air once, and watched it fall, almost like in slow motion to his eye, back to his hand. Smith's trial was lasting longer than it he wanted to. It had been already going for over a week, nine days to be exact, due to the fact Smith had managed to employ a very good lawyer with all the finances. It was clear he was going to be found guilty, although the lawyer had apparently found a loophole in the works and was using his to get the plea of insanity verified. Yuuta wasn't allowed to the trial under his parents wishes, just like his brother had been left in the house. He gave a scoff of amusement as he remembered the news he had got from his sister on the first day of the trial of Shusuke deciding he was going to do a disappearing act much to her panic, although it was only seconds later after she found he had disappeared that she had received a call from Eiji's grandfather. Tilting his head Yuuta twirled the tennis ball in his hand, like there was something fascinating about it, reminiscing in pleasant memories of a dark period of time in most people's lives that knew Kikumaru and his brother that was not yet over and didn't seem to have an ending. One of those pleasant memories was that Yuuta had got close to Eiji's grandfather and grandmother who had once stayed in the Kikumaru household until the family moved to Osaka and they moved to their own house in Tokyo not too far. According to Yumiko, their parents had come home several hours after Shusuke had disappeared to the Kikumaru house with a much happier tennis tensai in tow. It seemed Eiji's grandfather had used his position as head of the family to get both Eiji's parents and his parents to have both boys meet more often now after evaluating the situation and concluding that they were both miserable and destroying themselves without each other. Shusuke and Eiji were now probably doing what they did every day whilst the trial was going on which was Yumiko would take Shusuke over to the Kikumaru house in the morning and then when the trial was finished for the day; his parents would come back to the Kikumaru house to take Yuuta's brother home. It also seemed the Seigaku regulars were also being allowed into the house now.

Not that Yuuta had experienced this at all, much to his annoyance. His parents had insisted that he stay at St Rudolph Gakuen as he was studying for his exams and had his tennis team to practice with. They had managed to get to nationals this year, although they had lost out about midway in the nationals. It was still a couple of steps higher than it had been last year and it had almost guaranteed him a place at St Rudolph's high school with a scholarship to pay for all the private fees if he could the points on his exams. It was an opportunity that he couldn't really miss or mess up, although there wasn't so much pressure so he could see his brother! He had only really seen Shusuke for a few days before being packed off back here, however he had been slightly happier when he had managed to return the cactus to its previous position on the windowsill whilst Shusuke had been sleeping. His brother's face when asleep was something he couldn't get rid of. His eyes shut, with the honey coloured hair falling across his face, his right hand had rested on the blue pillow besides him, and the white cast had been a startling contrast against the darkly lighted room, with the sunlight struggling to get through the curtains. His face had been like a book to read, open to everyone who would look closely. There was that certain grimace to the hold of his face that indicated painful memories that invaded the dreams, although having been experienced and knowing its course would not wake him from Shusuke's tight grip on sleep. 'Sleep probably had been the only escape for Shusuke and Kikumaru,' Yuuta mused to himself. He couldn't help but admire the fact that they were able to hang on for so long in the conditions that had been _briefly_ described to him, although it had come at the cost of their memories seemingly.

Yuuta was suddenly jerked back to life by a sudden tap on his right shoulder and the ball fell from his hand with the unaccounted for movement. He turned quickly to face the person whom had been responsible for this action and saw a smile staring back at him occupied with a blue mass of hair. Yukimura had invited the middle school team to the high school of Rikkaidai and their tennis courts for a small practice session. Seigaku middle school had been invited as well but had to withdraw their acceptance after Fuji and Eiji's reappearance as the captain, Kaidoh, who had beaten St Rudolph's both at the Kanto tournament and the national tournament, along with help from the two vice captains, Momo whom had been given doctor's authorization that he could play again just for the last game Seigaku played in the Kanto tournament, and Echizen who was still in the annoying habit of saying 'mada mada dane' all the time, had all asked for time to focus on reacquainting themselves. Yuuta nodded his head towards the captain of the high school team in a sign of respect.

"What are you thinking about Fuji-san?" Yukimura asked softly, moving his hand as an indication to talk a walk away from the busy tennis courts. "I do not think it is about your team." Yuuta rubbed the back of his head with his now free right hand as they walked away from the forgotten tennis ball and out towards the grounds. It was indeed true he had taken over captainship in his third year when Akazawa left for high school and was yet another reason why he had been noticed.

"Just troubles at home," Yuuta said distantly, not going into much detail about the situation. Yukimura nodded, this time the press had learnt from their encounter last time and decided not to bother the former Rikkaidai third years.

"Your brother?"

"My parents are clashing over what to do and I've not been allowed to see him recently. The trial is taking ages and there is still no sign of Aniki recovering his memories. I really have no idea what to do."

"Ah. I've heard the press have tried getting statements off you."

"They never find me for some reason. They always get lost. I think Mizuki has something to do with it but I can't be sure. He never really tells me." Yuuta said.

"I heard Akaya was looking forwards to greeting the press again this year; so he was ever so disappointed when they didn't turn up," Yukimura add a quirky edge to his grin. He stopped in his pace of walking and Yuuta frowned stopping as well only a few steps ahead.

"Is something wrong Yukimura-san?" Yuuta asked confused as why the elder boy had stopped so suddenly. He was greeted by a kind expression.

"Your brother is strong Yuuta-san," Yuuta noted the change in tone but made no comment. "He won't change from being your brother but you need to be ready that maybe he won't get them back. It doesn't just take time to recover from something major. You do need people to support you and a goal to work to" Yukimura said starting his walk again but this time back to the tennis courts.

"How would you know?" Yuuta asked the retreating steps of the blue haired child of God, not moving from his spot.

"I've been there" came the almost whispered reply.

* * *

**Fluffy methinks. White and fluffy. This was finished at 3.25am and I am so tired. Next chapter will be more exicting! I promise! Although saying that, the ending I have for it ... eh ... heeh heeh heeh ... yeah not saying **

**demoncat13:** Fuji thinks its Tezuka but I'm not going to say who. It's either Tezuka or Inui. You mean the middle school? Well I didn't think of that. Maybe but they can't exactly go there because their too old now and supposed to be in high school  
**ElementalCat:** YAY! Well thank you for telling me the spelling mistakes. Otherwise I wouldn't spot them! None in this chapter I hope  
**Midori-Emmi:** I have never actually wrote in great detail about other schools in this story because that happens, *points to above* not a good chapter. I'm not so keen on most of them apart maybe from St Rudolph's and that's mainly because of Yuuta  
**BF:** Thank you! Well something is going to happen to one of them next chapter. As for parents, grandparents rule! Have complete authority in the household. As for tennis, Eiji's and Fuji's bodies must be aching from not doing it everyday.

**Reviews please! Your reviews keep me going! So please review!**


	53. Chapter 52

It was a pleasant day; the sky was blue with no clouds to damp the mood. There were masses of people wandering around not caring about everyone else's business; there was no need for them to. They were content in their own lives; why worry them with things that they would probably forget only a few minutes later or throw off as unimportant before carrying on with their important parts of their lives. The group of nine had made a turning off from the main busy streets somewhere before, Eiji couldn't say where because he had become lost with all the different rights and lefts he had tried, and failed, to keep count of from his house. Eiji gave a long sigh and blew a piece of his red hair which had fallen across his eyes several times, frowning at the piece when it refused to budge; his hands were currently unavailable as they were linked behind his head and providing excellent comfort. His tongue came out his mouth only by a fraction as he focused on removing the red tuff from his vision with only his breath. After several attempts it moved to the right and out of his sight and his gaze had followed it to the person walking next to him, his tongue quickly withdrawing. The challenge had caused some amused looks from several of his walking companions for the day. It wasn't the first day he managed to finally get outside; his parents had taken him finally after some persuasion on his grandfather's part, under close supervision, to the local tennis court no less. Only problem was on that first day they had only taken him to show him where it was from the house, and then taken him back almost immediately, but Eiji felt he was getting his freedom back again. That house had been driving him crazy. He swore he would have forgotten what colour the grass was if he had stayed inside any longer. Eiji flashed an extra bright smile at the black haired boy besides him before staring up at the sky, not watching where he was walking. He knew that their destination was going to the middle school they had gone to, Seigaku Gakuin he believed, no one was there as it was not a school day apart from one person called Ryuzaki sensei who apparently been their tennis coach, although no tennis bags, balls or rackets were being brought on the sensei's orders.

There was nothing that could dampen his mood at the moment, the trial of George Smith had been nearly going for three weeks straight but the final conclusion of the court and jury would be administered today, his grandparents had let him and Shusuke sneak out of the house with the rest of the boys whom they had become good friends, again, for a walk whilst the press where distracted and Shusuke's parents were seemingly also finally letting up keeping Shusuke locked away in the world. Eiji did a twirl mid-step bringing him slightly further forwards and bringing all of his thoughts back to the present day, which caused a chuckle to escape from two of the people walking with him. He turned around so he could look at the back of the group of the nine walking today before bouncing over to the black haired boy, his hands now dropped from their position from behind his head.

"Oishi!" He said excitedly, full of hyperactive energy, which didn't seem to be going down well with the stern and stoic Tezuka who was walking in the group of now three people at the back. Momo was bickering up in front with Kaidoh, followed by Fuji, Echizen and Kawamura, the honey coloured haired boy was having a nice conversation with the power tennis player, as Eiji had learnt, the left wrist was now no longer needed to be strapped to Fuji's chest and so now hung freely. Echizen did not appear interested in anything but his Ponta can which had been position at his lips for some time now, Eiji noted. Inui was behind them, muttering something as he scribbled in his green notebook. The hyperactive red head had tried once to look in the book over Inui's shoulder but found two problems with that as the data tennis player was much taller than him and Inui was very good at snapping it shut suddenly.

"Eiji," Oishi acknowledged with a smile as he watched the acrobatic player doing flips around him before coming to stand besides him bouncing as he walked in a way that only Eiji could. The boy was probably going to tell him of something that would have no relevance to anything at all and probably wouldn't make much sense but Oishi was going to listen anyway.

"Oishi. Do you think Shu… Fuji is happy?" Oishi blinked, he was not expecting a question like that to appear out of nowhere. The vice-captain turned his gaze to the tensai who was wearing a smile almost similar in appearance to Eiji's before looking back at the red head, confused now to why the question had come up.

"Yes, I think he is happy. We never knew the real Fuji before you two were … kidnapped. He always seemed to hide himself apart from at the nationals at one time when he was playing a single match and lost. But I would say he is happy Eiji. Why?" the red head stopped bouncing and was now walking at Oishi's pace. Tezuka had moved ahead and was now walking besides Inui, neither making any movements of talking to one another, just walking.

"Do you think he would still be happy even if I disappeared one day?"

"No Eiji. I wouldn't be happy and I don't think Fuji would be happy either. I don't think anyone would be …"

"Nya! No Oishi! I didn't mean like that silly!" Eiji interrupted Oishi's almost turned full on alarmed rant before it got any worse. "I meant like if I had to move away or something like that." The red head's face took on one of a deep sadness. Oishi could feel his heart beating like mad in his chest, threatening to burst through the rib cage as it started to slow its heightened rhythm.

"Why do you say that Eiji?" he asked after he was sure he would be able to get the words out. It concerned him slightly that Eiji would think like that at all, but he caught himself remembering that this was also a different Eiji to the one he had formed the Golden Pair with.

"I don't know my parents will enough to know that they will keep their promise and let me stay on at Seigaku with my siblings in Osaka and their life is now in Osaka mainly. In truth they are only really here for me." Oishi could see a pout forming on Eiji's face.

"Couldn't you stay with your grandparents then?"

"I don't think they would give me up so easily to my grandpa and grandma." Eiji muttered.

"But have been missing for a long time. I don't think your parents will move personally however this time even if you do move then you could try and convince them for you to stay at the dorms in Seigaku High. Its much harder for you to be admitted anywhere else now, Seigaku were very quick at accepting the transfer application. It could take months for you to be admitted anywhere else, well into the next year." Oishi pointed out. "Trust your parents Eiji and its not like you're going to disappear disappear again."

"Nya, your right Oishi!" Eiji said, a bounce coming back into his step as he skipped around and up ahead, leaving Oishi to pick up his pace and move quickly to join Tezuka and Inui, the latter now making comments directed in the captain's way about his game play.

Eiji glanced back as he bounced happily as he sped up to the front of the group over taking the bickering Momo and Kaidoh, which felt right to him. He couldn't explain it but hearing them bickering was natural, even though he had spent less time with the younger students. Fuji sent a more personal smile his way and Eiji sent one back speeding up and jogging to a point a bit further ahead in the quiet roads. He preferred the back streets to the main busy ones; it reminded him of the peaceful pace of England, which reminded him that he had also promised to type the first email out to Ushio tonight after Smith's sentence had been declared. His parents were most certainly loosing up in their protectiveness although not totally and it was still a heavy burden. He waited until the Momo and Kaidoh part of the group had caught up with him, still heavily bickering with each other over something that probably didn't even matter anymore, before racing further ahead. He was looking forward to meeting this sensei and looking at the tennis courts where he once played. He watched as Fuji broke away from Kawamura, the power player now taking an interesting in talking to Echizen whom had thrown his now empty Ponta can away in a bin they had passed. Eiji bounced where he was in the middle of a T-junction of a deep residential area, watching as the honey coloured haired boy started to jog towards him, clutching his left wrist to his chest with his right as he did so.

Eiji bit his lip and then started to bounce even more, if that was possible. "Hurry Shusuke!" he called out, not bothering to correct himself. If he was talking to other people then he would try and remember to correct himself but with the person he once knew as his twin brother he just couldn't do it. A noise distracted him from his shout, a skidding of a wheel, sliding of something; the noise came from his right. The road bended only a few metres away from him, so he couldn't see what was around the corner, but the skidding got louder before stopping. Eiji stared at it for a minute even taking a step back towards the wall to see if he could see anything but no more noise came and there was nothing in sight. He turned his attention back to Fuji who was getting closer and smiled waving his hand in attempt to get the boy to run faster, he was being slow. The reminder of the group was a good distance behind them but still in sight. He smiled when the honey coloured hair boy caught up with him and stood on his left.

"ShuShu!" Eiji said, watching a dangerous smile replace his normal one.

"Ei..."

In truth, Eiji didn't know what happened after that. All he could remember was that Shusuke had stopped saying his name mid-way and the skidding had been heard from very close behind him, way too close. It was loud and it had been accompanied by loud engine noises! He could guess from the lack of memories and time being too fast that Fuji had grabbed him and twisted himself so he was in between Eiji and what he presumed was the car. There had been no cry, only the tightening of the arms before a sudden force pushed Eiji backwards, onto the road. The only thing Eiji could be sure was that he must have blacked out for a few seconds and when he opened his eyes, that honey coloured hair was being dyed a deep red blood colour, with the black predator that was the cause of it was standing victorious over the unmoving body.

* * *

**Now watch me run away! Cliffhanger and big one at that ... nya ... gomen! Just when you thought they couldn't get hurt anymore ...  
and lol, just cheated one of the supermarket chains out of money and I didn't even realise until I got home and my sister pointed it out. I got a leg of lamb on a reduced offer and then got over half off it again ... won't be going to that shop for a while. It was supposed to be a surprise for my parents but it's now a surprise for me as well!  
OH! This story hit 100,000 words last night! NYA! That's a lot ...  
**

**demoncat13:** Thank you, I corrected that. And with your suggestion they were going to Seigaku middle school, I say were ...  
**ElementalCat:** English is your second langauge? Its really good! Your english spelling is better than mine (and I do an English and history uni course ... nya!) and yes I brought in Yukimura because Rikkai is getting more comfortable with me as a school to write about.  
**Sherlockdetective99:** I didn't realise that line suggested that, but now I think about it, it is a very omnious line. I think you might be mad at this chapter ... very mad ... and yeah I recovered very well!

**I would like a review if you would be so kind enough to give one for me. Please?**


	54. Chapter 53

His hands were shaking, he couldn't stop them, he could feel them shaking in the tight grasp he had placed them. He was only briefly aware of someone talking the background on a phone, there were other voices in the room, maybe they were talking to him but he didn't respond; the voices carried on. If he had been able to focus he would have been able to tell who was speaking by looking at the person. The only thing his mind was able to focus on was the wooden door, which led to the alarmingly white painted reception and beyond there … hadn't he just got out of here not too long ago? It was like fate was tying him to this place and he couldn't escape its gleaming glossy clutches. It was maddening. Did life have something against them? All that had happened, all that was happening now, maybe in the future … if the honey coloured hair tensai had a future at all. Ask Eiji how he got to one of these numerous waiting rooms at the side of the reception and he would draw a blank face at you; that is if he had even been listening at all. To get Eiji to talk was seemingly an impossible task which Oishi was trying to accomplish by himself as the others waited nervously for news on Fuji and Tezuka left a voice mail message on both Fuji's and Eiji's parents phones, which had been switched off for the court case.

"Eiji," Oishi whispered from where he was sitting besides the boy. The red head had been checked over for injuries and the doctor had cleared him only an hour ago, the accident had happened three hours ago just before mid-day. Oishi remembered with horror as the black sports car had come around the bend and into view, so very quietly at first, and somehow Fuji had grabbed Eiji into a hold twisting himself in between the car and Eiji only a mil-second before the car had hit Fuji's back. Oishi could have sworn that as Fuji's back had arched as the car hit him, Fuji had pushed Eiji away and further down the road. Oishi had gotten angry but it was made verbal by Kaidoh as the car had backed away and reversed out of sight and down another road. It was the first time Oishi had heard Kaidoh shout at someone outside of a tennis match and wasn't Momo. His kohai had actually looked ready to chase after the car and probably would have had not Kawamura suddenly shouted Fuji's name, running up to the fallen boy. Fuji had looked like he had just fallen over his own feet; the only thing that was denying that statement was that the boy hadn't arisen and almost neatly there was a pool blood forming, which the paramedic had later pointed when she had arrived that something had stuck into Fuji's back leaving a wound which likely would include internal bleeding, although she said it more pleasant and calming terms. Oishi had been looking after a shocked Eiji who refused to move at the time so he didn't catch the full conversation but he thought her caught her name, Yume229, or something like that. He needed to thank her later for calming Momo down who had been upset and angry, ranting about the place as was his way of worrying over Fuji. However his problem right now was the boy in the seat to the right of him whom refused to talk or move from the seat they had got him into without any problems or protests.

The door swung open and in walked the doctor, the very same Doctor that had treated them. Doctor Fraser looked exhausted as he held the clipboard in his left hand, rubbing the back of his head, his tongue clicking against his white teeth. All of sudden to Oishi's surprise Eiji came to life and jumped up suddenly, startling Oishi, although the egghead recovered quickly a stood up as well to acknowledge the news.

"I was supposed to go home tomorrow," Doctor Fraser said not looking up from his clipboard, browsing through the photos. Eiji leapt forwards until he was standing in front of the doctor who looked surprised at the movement.

"Shusuke" was all he said. Doctor Fraser raised an eyebrow, dropping the clipboard to his side before suddenly and randomly flicking Eiji in the middle of his forehead. It certainly surprised the red head and Oishi could see the red head was startled as to why Doctor Fraser had done that instead of informing them about Fuji's condition. There was a tired smile on the Doctor's face as he stared at the red head.

"Calm down mister. You'll work yourself up into a frenzy; if you haven't already. I don't what you back in hospital being treated for shock or something worse. Honestly you both only just got released a couple of weeks ago. Aren't you supposed to be taking your exams from England next week? What is with you two and hospitals?" Eiji's head fell on to his chest giving a long sigh before nodding looking back up at the Doctor, whom gave his own nod in reply.

"Have his parents been informed?" Doctor Fraser looked around the room at the rest of the gathered regulars.

"A message has been left for them on their voice mail as well as Kikumaru's. Both households have disconnected their house phones to avoid press calling," Tezuka informed, a little impatiently if Oishi could have said so himself.

"Fuji Shusuke, as I have been informed to call him by staff here," there was a side long look out of the door at a passing member of staff, "was very lucky. Apart from surgery for minor internal bleeding and one heck of a bruise on his back, along with his right leg, he avoided any other injury, which is a miracle considering his left wrist. He suffered concussion and he will be treated for that when he wakes up, which should be in the next couple of hours. And Eiji, before you go rushing off to and see him, please keep from running in the hospital, it's against hospital policy. A hurried walk might get you to room 214 in about the same amount of time," Doctor Fraser as the red head neatly slipped past his big frame and out into the reception, promptly disappearing. The Doctor blinked several times at the empty space where the acrobatic tennis player had been. "Well that was quicker than expected. I thought he would at least let me move out of the way of the door" he muttered to himself, giving a slight pout before turning back to the room full of regulars. "Has he been like this since he left the hospital?" he asked frowning. He got a nod from Oishi who was very relieved at the life that Eiji had regained and that Fuji hadn't been in a serious accident.

"I need to ask you to …" Doctor Fraser trailed off as Momo and Kaidoh started bickering to one another.

"I'll get there first Viper," unsurprisingly Momo was now feeling competitive now he knew Fuji was alright.  
"Baka, you're too slow," was Kaidoh's reply and the bandana boy was quickly out of the door, just pushing Doctor Fraser to the side and racing off.

"Mamushi!" Momo cried, racing after him.

"No running in the hospital!" Doctor Fraser called out after taking a few steps back and sticking his head out of the door. Looking back at the remaining regulars he frowned. "Why do I feel like I am talking a brick wall with those two? They were just as bad as last time they where here. I swear half of the nurses were annoyed with them, and the other half was swooning over them, probably wishing they were much younger."

"Inui, Kawamura." Oishi looked at the stern stoic captain as he stared at the data and power tennis players. "Go and follow them."  
"Make sure they don't wreck anything," Oishi added as the pair nodded and left the room, this time allowing the Doctor to step aside who just sunk into a chair watching them leave before turning his gaze to the captain and vice captain.

"Eiji and Shusuke are lucky to have friends like you," he commented. "Now to finish what I was saying earlier. I need to ask you to inform me when Shusuke's parents arrive as I will probably be giving my final lecture. I may be able to extend my flight until Shusuke is released, which is without any brain damage, should be about two days."  
"Brain damage?" Oishi asked getting worried again.  
"No visible brain damage but you can never be sure with cases like this. I didn't want to tell Eiji that, it's only a possibility that Shusuke will have it." Doctor Fraser said before standing up as his gaze fell on a clock. "And my lecture should be starting in half an hour, I need to check my notes, so I'll let you go and visit Shusuke now but I'll leave the decision up to you whether you tell Eiji about the possibility of brain damage." With that the small waiting room was made vacant.

**POT**

Eiji was holding Fuji's right hand tightly. It had been a further four hours since Doctor Fraser had told him of the honey coloured hair tensai's condition and the boy had yet to wake up. Oishi had come in looking pale but had said nothing to Eiji, so the red head had thought nothing of it. The vice captain was out, on Captain's orders, with the rest of the team getting something to eat, and also to be vacated from the room as Fuji's and Eiji's parents were on their way. That had been five minutes ago. The acrobatic tennis player looked surprised when he felt a movement of the hand underneath him and startled looked at the tensai's face, whose eyes were slightly opening, almost sleepy.

"Shusuke!" Eiji said leaning to get closer, there was a quick look of confusion which passed Fuji's face but it was gone soon and replaced with a smile.

"Eiji..." was his cautious reply. Eiji suddenly remembered something.  
"Wait there Fuji! I need to tell a nurse you're awake!" he said standing and making his way around the bed and towards the closed door.

"Saa… Eiji, why are you so thin?" Fuji asked suddenly out of the blue before Eiji could get close to the door. Eiji turned confused towards the bed.

"Shusuke …" he said slowly not moving from his spot. Fuji turned his gaze down to his left arm, a dangerous look on his face.

"Eiji, can you tell me why is my arm in a cast?"

* * *

**NYA! I have done something ... something very very big and I wonder if you can guess what I've done ...**  
**As for the black predator, it was actually meant just to be a black sports car ... and the driver is still not revealed! **

**demoncat13:** I can't answer any of those questions, expect maybe the black predator which is a car. The driver however ...  
**girl-of-anime:** NYA! HOI HOI! New reviewer! Welcome! I also looked it up on google when you said that and found it amusing. Yes it was a car but the wording was supposed to represent kind of a animal authority, quite aggressive and dark.  
**Midori-Emmi:** I tell you this, it ain't a hurt or comfort story. Angst is more a feeling than actions or events, which is what mainly defines the hurt/comfort. You feel angst but you don't do angst as an action, so I tried to aim more towards that but to get angst you need dark events, not lots sometimes. I may let Rikkai back in, possibly ... maybe, Yukimaru is quite a complicated character to write about.  
**ElementalCat:** I'll try showing more of their friendship for you ^-^, its just slightly difficult to do at the moment, even more so with the last two chapters.  
**BF:** Nope, I thought Eiji was getting quite a lot of dark events so I added that to happen to Fuji. I did think of Eiji being hit but it was harder because Fuji wouldn't have said what Eiji said at the beginning of the chapter. I'm glad you like the ending.

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	55. Chapter 54

Oishi could only stare at Fuji from the other side of the room, no thoughts were running his head expect for one, a very dark one. A statement he dare not speak out loud as it would ruin the happy mood of room over Fuji's returning memories. A day since Eiji had come to them in the canteen, paled faced and looking rather alarmingly ill only ten minutes after they had just left him. All he had said was that Fuji had wanted them, using that exact wording before leaving the canteen and then presumably the hospital. Of course Oishi had been torn between going after Eiji and making sure Fuji was alright because the red head hadn't told them anything, only that the boy had wanted to see them. His decision however had been made by Momoshiro grabbing him with a 'come on Oishi-sempai!' and dragging him to the room. They had very quickly found out that the boy had his memories back, although Oishi guessed Tezuka had figured that out from the grin on Fuji's face, the way the captain's face had a flash of emotion across it. It had been different almost, although it was the same grin. It had been the 'saa' that had done it, along with Momo asking if he was alright. It had been quickly revealed that Fuji's memories had been returned, as Doctor Fraser had moved Momo out of the way, but it had come at a cost. The last thing Fuji could remember was getting ready to get on the bus for the Under 17 tournament. The reason why Eiji had left so quickly had suddenly become a lot clearer to Oishi, although no one else seemed affected. Momo was jumping about the place, Kaidoh was telling him to shut up, Tezuka had his arms crossed, his face once again stone, Inui was writing down data_ again_ in his green notebook, Kawamura was rubbing the back of his head with his normal sheepish grin (that was without the racket), and Echizen had just carried playing with the brim of his cap like normal. They had been shooed out of the room quickly after as Fuji's parents had come bursting through the door, Oishi had to tell Eiji's parents that he didn't know where the boy was as they had come with to the hospital after the court case had finished as well. There had then been a flurry of activity which had lasted a few minutes until a phone call on Eiji's father phone from the red head's grandmother had revealed that Eiji had come home. And since that day, only 3 days ago, Eiji had remained in his house; not even coming out when Oishi had called around. It was getting him worried.

Fuji's parents had called them in to the hospital today in order to speak to the former large group of regulars about what was going to happen to their son and his lack of memories of the past year and just over a half, which was that they would rather Fuji remain in the dark about the horrifying detail of his kidnapping. His parents were clearly disturbed at what they had heard at the court. Eiji had not turned up. So thus Oishi found himself in this situation only an hour later, elbows resting on his knees as he sat on a plastic chair, his slightly curled up hands supporting his chin, eyes on the rest of the room. He had tried time and time again to image what it would be like for Fuji to realise that he was missing a big part of his life that had clearly affected him and Eiji. At the moment he really wanted to leave the room and check on Eiji again; even though he had only knocked on the Kikumaru household door this morning. He didn't even have a valid excuse to leave the room, at least up until the moment when Tezuka spoke up.

"Oishi," the vice captain was disturbed from his musings, a shocked expression, with eyebrows raised as he stared at the captain; arms crossed standing by the window where the sunlight poured in from the midday sun. The room fell silent from the constant chatter that had been going on; it had mainly been from Momo and Kaidoh, the ruffian getting over excited and chatting about nothing in particular. Oishi could have said there was almost relief in the boy's voice but he couldn't certain. Kaidoh had been telling the boy to shut up, although it wasn't really a forced command.

"Yes Tezuka?" Oishi said standing, trying to give a smile to hide his feels of worry; which didn't exactly work as the rest of the room kept staring at him and one of that number was in a hospital bed with another one missing altogether.

"Go and check on Kikumaru, find out why he missed the Fujis' summoning," the stoic captain said. The vice captain had to control his walk as he left the room, had he not been already embarrassed he would have possibly said a reply but knowing that the stern man in that room could possibly read minds he probably already knew. Oishi didn't actually start running until he got around the corner of the hospital and out of sight of room 214.

It wasn't far from the hospital to the Kikumaru house to walk, about 20 to half an hour walk away, surprisingly convenient for the Kikumaru household, as Oishi remembered an old conversation with Eiji's parents before this mess even began, as it was easy to get the various serious breaks or very rare incidents were people would panic sorted out quickly and easily. And the Kikumaru house was not prone to injury; especially Eiji as a young child when trying out a new acrobatic move in the garden space. He had been forbidden to do it in the house apart from in winter and even then under parental or grandparental supervision. The memories made Oishi laugh slightly and feel more relaxed as his pace slowed to walk, the Kikumaru house now in sight. Blinking he felt a cold drop on his nose and he looked up at the sky, dark grey clouds were forming over head with little white droplets falling from them floating down like heavy feathers on the wind. A brittle cold wind swept past Oishi, lifting the edge of his open jacket and sending cold shivers down his spine, like cold fingers gently tapping their way down, even sliding down at some stages. He hadn't notice it first but it looked like there was a snow storm coming, and quickly, as Oishi stared behind him taking in the sight. Wrapping his arms around, the egghead cursed this time, this one time, he forgot to bring something heavier and warmer with him. A black fabric jacket was really not enough for a winter month. He felt his right hand clench unnaturally in the cold, an automatic reaction to keep itself warm.

He ran the rest of the way to the house and quickly knocked on the bamboo door. The press had disappeared since the end of the trial so there was no need for anyone to sneak in and out anymore. He was startled when the door slid open to the left and he was quickly pulled inside, by an outreached, firm and elderly left hand. The door was slid shut again and Oishi was left staring, blinking up at Eiji's grandfather. Behind him at the living room door and the under stairs cupboard door, stood Eiji's mother, father and grandmother staring at him, with a look of clear desperation in their eyes, worry was written all over their face and their posture was filled with that of anxiety.

"Erm …" Oishi started, forgetting all that he was planning to say. Eiji's grandfather sent a quick look up at the ceiling before looking back down.

"Oishi-kun. Are you still friends with Eiji?" the elderly man shook his head, tightening his grip on Oishi's right arm, "no. Are you still best friends with Eiji?" Oishi nodded speechless, what was with all these questions?

"Please get my grandson out of his room. Tell him to stop and eat something. He came home three days ago and hasn't been out of his room since. He's done nothing but look at the photographs we've gave him and we gathered from before that he was getting nothing out of them," Eiji's grandmother finished, her hands were held so tightly together, as she bowed her head, that they were going white. Oishi's mouth opened slightly and he nodded his head, now worried as well. As Eiji's grandfather let go of his arm, red marks from where he had been holding it so very tightly, Oishi removed his shoes and replaced it with the indoor shoes that the Kikumaru had bought him specially what felt like a hundred years ago, making his way up to the acrobatic tennis player's bedroom past the worried family.

The route was still ingrained in his memory; Oishi knew exactly how many steps it would take to get to Eiji's bedroom from the top of the stairs, how many times he used to have to knock on the door before Eiji would answer it without moaning. That was the old Eiji though. As Oishi neared the door he could hear murmuring, a dark and almost sad muttering. None of the words were clear until Oishi stood in front of the familiar door and as he raised his right fist to knock, he heard them.

"This one. No maybe not that one. It could be this one! Yes it has to be this one! That's what they were saying! But it could be that one …" Oishi knocked on the door firmly but there was no answer. He knocked again, no answer but the muttering carried on. Trying twice more, he finally got an answer. Eiji had always answered Oishi on the fourth knock, as the vice captain recalled.

"Come in" it was soft, a whisper, hesitant. Oishi opened the door to a room with the window wide open, snow blowing in, the blue curtains flapping in the wind. Photos were scattered everywhere under foot and on the duvet, sat with his legs curled up to the left of him, was Eiji holding one of the many photos scattered around him on the bed in his right hand staring up at him.

"Oishi," the red head whispered. The vice captain wasted no time in closing the door behind him, removing the indoor shoes, striding across the room, avoiding stepping on as many photos as he could and closing the window. He then turned to study Eiji closely.

The red head's most startling feature was the red rims around his eyes and how bloodshot his eyes actually where, making Eiji look like he hadn't slept in a while. The clothes, a black t-shirt and red jeans were the same as when he had come out of the room. Oishi could see Eiji had got thin again incredibly quickly, this time seemingly worse than before as his cheeks were hollow and his hand shook in midair, which could have been from how cold the room was or from not eating or not sleeping at all. His eyes which had been bright on the day of the accident were now dim, like a flickering and almost dead light bulb.

"Eiji" Oishi said, startled by all the revelation that he had seen. Eiji looked away from Oishi and back at the photo in his hand.

"I have to" the boy said to himself, sounding almost like a command. "I have to do this."  
"You have to do what?" Oishi asked not moving.

"I have to get them back. I have to!" Eiji turned his gaze back to Oishi and the later was startled to see the formation of tears. "I have to get my memories back Oishi! I have to for Shusuke's sake! I have to remember! I have to so you won't be disappointed anymore! I have to so I won't be left behind! I have to so that when Shusuke speaks I can speak as well! I have to remember so I know him! Because … because he only knows the old Eiji! Like everyone else knows the old Eiji! Shusuke was the only one who knew me! So I have to remember him so I know everyone including Shusuke!" In that time, Oishi had made his way over, stepping on photographs not caring about them anymore and sat down on the bed just slightly in front and to the left of Eiji and pulled the red head into a tight hug. He felt Eiji's arms wrap around him as the boy buried his head into Oishi's chest. Eiji's whole body was heaving with deep and painful to hear sobs. Oishi didn't know what to say for a while and whilst collecting his thoughts proceeded to carry on hugging Eiji making soothing hushing noises. He didn't know how long it was until the sobs started to slightly subside but then he had managed to think of what to say.

"Eiji," Oishi said, lifting the red head's chin up slowly with his left hand so he was looking at the boy directly, although the other seemed more interested in view the duvet. "You don't have to force yourself to remember. Tezuka, Kawamura, Echizen, Momo, Kaidoh, Inui, me, we've all know you better than we did that time in the restaurant when you came back to Japan. I'm sure Fuji will too; in fact I'm sure Fuji will work even harder than anyone else to get to know you. So don't force yourself, Eiji, to remember. Whatever memories you have, you will still be the team's Kikumaru Eiji, you will still be my Kikumaru Eiji, and you will still be Fuji's Kikumaru Eiji. Okay?" Eiji nodded his head, his eyes still downcast. Oishi didn't know whether his words had to got to Eiji or not but he grabbed Eiji back into a hug, this time so Eiji was being held against his chest tightly, his head resting against Oishi's right shoulder. It was also an attempt to warm the red head up as he was so very cold as well as a comforting technique. The red head started sobbing again, turning his face into Oishi, and all the vice captain could do now was wait until the sobbing ceased as the red head would be drawn into the pull of sleep for the first time in 3 days.

* * *

**Sorry about the lack of chapter yesterday but I was seriously distracted yesterday and so thus I finished reading the prince of tennis manga. It was also a difficult chapter to type because it was extermely difficult to start. Today also took a while because I am uploading the tenimyu Dream Live 2 at the same time ... which I have to finish tomorrow because it takes about 50 mins to upload one video and I didn't start until 10pm!**  
**But yeah BIG CHAPTER! to make up for lack of chapter yesterday and Eiji broke down because he can't remember and now Fuji can't remember the time he's been kidnapped... I'm sorry Eiji! **

**demoncat13:** I was tempted to put Sasabe in the car but there was also another person that I was tempted to do as well, but not anything to do with Smith no. So I just left it as a mystery!  
**Sherlockdetective99:** LOL! Your one of two people who has said that about the dancing. Yes Fuji got his memories back but at a dear cost to Eiji who took it very badly  
**Midori-Emmi:** Yep! Second person to say dancing around the room! Good luck on your exams! Have fun! Do come back here though because I'll miss you!  
**ElementalCat:** haven't said his sentence yet, so no you can't run Smith over with a car just yet.

**Reviews please! I add another twist to this story! NANI! I really need to stop doing that!**


	56. Chapter 55

Fuji looked outside at the blue skies; somewhat wishing he could be out there instead of stuck in this bed. It was only for one more day, as the doctors said without anymore complications he was going home tomorrow and then he could start finding out his first problem. What was missing from his memories, no one seemed too eager to tell him and it was getting annoying to have a big gap missing, a gag ranging well over a year by what he could presume. This lead to his second problem; a certain red head that had been missing ever since he woke up four days ago. Yesterday Oishi had left under Tezuka's command to go and find out where Eiji was, and hadn't returned. Kawamura had told him this morning that due to the snow storm last Oishi had stayed over at Eiji's house and had given Tezuka a call this morning to say that he wouldn't be in for tennis practice. At least that was one thing Fuji was able to be somewhat pleased about, that Taka-san hadn't give up on tennis and his father now owned and ran a successful Sushi restaurant in the heart of a busy and popular tourist city. Maybe he would give them free Sushi if they ever visited Osaka …

That trail of thoughts was interrupted by a noise of a small group of loud people chatting outside in the hallway, gradually making themselves louder and louder. With a frown that was quickly wiped from his face, Fuji tilted his head and gave a bright smile as he recognised from voice alone the first person that walked through the door. The Rokkaku seemed in bright spirits, as Kentaro almost bounced through the door holding a bunch of unrecognisable flowers wrapped in some type of interesting coloured paper. Saeki followed behind waving his hand and Fuji could see from his bed that Amane and Kurobane were fighting in the background, much to the alarm one of the nurses who was looking at him pleading to get them away. Fuji just gave her a silent smile and turned his attention back to the rest of the group as its way into the room. Kisarazu had his usual red Rokkaku hat on; did he ever take it off? Itsuki was still being his usual self, with air blowing through his nose and asking a lot of whys to Kisarazu who wasn't answering. Fuji tilted his head as he watched Saeki quickly re-back out of the room and dragged Amane and Kurobane into the room backwards, giving them both firm smacks around the head.

"Saeki" he said smiling as Kentaro bounced around to the left hand side of his hospital bed.

"We heard about you getting your memories back! And that you were in some sort of accident, we couldn't get details. We thought we would come and visit you." Kentaro said laying the flowers down on the bedside locker.

"Kentaro," Saeki warned his former tennis captain 'who is now coming up to his last year of middle school' Fuji thought to himself, trying to relate the times of adding a year and a half to his memories.

"Oh right! We brought some flowers for you and hope you can come over to the playground to see the children again and encourage them in playing tennis." Kentaro finished as Saeki took over with a curious look at the middle school student which Fuji couldn't interpret.

"We were concerned when you and Kikumaru-san disappeared. No one heard anything, and the newspaper weren't posting anything new after the police dropped the case." Saeki said taking the seat to the right of Fuji's bed.

"Then we heard about that horrible Smith-San and what he did to you. Why did he? Why? Why?" Fuji gave an inward sigh, remembering the time that Eiji had to cope with Itsuki asking why he was able to play in his acrobatic way. Fuji did a quick glance at the open door at remembering the red head's name, like he was expecting Seigaku to come in dragging him in with them, well mainly Oishi insisting Eiji come and see him.

"Saaa …" Fuji said as Kisarazu realised the door was open from the quick glance of Fuji's gaze. Having had been in some kind of trance until that point he realised that Itsuki was still chanting around, revealing some things his parents had taken great care not to mention. They probably hadn't counted on other schools coming to see him, a serve miscalculation that he was going to great pleasure in finding out.

"They said in the newspapers that he hit you and the acrobatic boy with a tennis racket and tried to make you professional tennis players. Why? Why?" Itsuki asked softly, Fuji was glad to see that the boy had some gentle sides to him.

"Itsuki. Don't ask such questions" Kentaro said with a firm tone, leaning across the bed to look at the doubles player who was leaning very close to the tensai's face. Fuji just looked back at the boy, unflinching, feeling quite surprised when the excitable boy didn't draw back. Maybe he had lost the touch somewhere along the way. Saeki in the end was the one to draw Itsuki, grabbing him from behind on the shoulders and pulled him back so he was in the background of the room, thus not being able to ask why.

"Sorry Fuji-san" Kentaro said bowing his head, "he …"

"Was excited like you?" Fuji finished, turning to look at him, a huge smile on his face, which caused Kentaro to move back a bit.

They didn't know how helpful Itsuki had been and that was enough to make him want to scare everyone out of the room so he could get a phone to call Eiji and somehow pull him over to the hospital without leaving the bed. "It's Fuji", the honey coloured hair boy said leaning against the high raised part of the bed, against the comfortable warm pillows, staring up at the ceiling before closing his eyes fully to the half state of what they had been in, trying to sink in what had been said and wondering how he was going to tackle the problem of a certain red head. Eiji couldn't avoid him forever. There was an awkward silence which followed, broken by Saeki after the silver haired boy realised no one was actually going to say anything unless he did and he knew how happy Fuji would be just to let everyone stay there in silence.

"We never found out how you managed to get back into hospital Fuji" he said, his left arm lying on the bed, his body was turned on the chair facing towards the top end of the bed, his right hand was clutched at the smoothed and polished wooden arm rests of the hospital's visitor chair, which were a interesting colour green and had a pale oak frame. A stark contrast to the metal hospital bed covered with a blue duvet, white under sheet and white pillows. Fuji turned his head to his childhood friend, still smiling.

"Car hit me," Fuji said with a light tone to his voice, to which the whole of the room reacted in the way he wanted them to. Shock, horror and a bit of terror from the fact he had said it in such a light hearted manner. It was slightly amusing to see Kentaro suddenly rebounding with once again an inexhaustible amount of energy that was nearly just as bad as Eiji. 'As the old Eiji' Fuji had to correct himself. That was one thing he had been told, that Eiji no longer had the memories of the past that he had. Kawamura had told him about bad it had been for Eiji to readjust himself back into a steady stream of what real life was, without mentioning anything of what George Smith had done to them.

"Why?" Itsuki asked, bounding back over, only to be halted by Saeki's out reached right arm and was seemingly about to tell him off when Fuji interrupted him on purpose.

"The driver was going too fast and then drove after hitting me, didn't even stop. I was lucky to receive what injuries I did, I could have been a lot worse," now he was deliberately trying to scare them off getting impatient with having to wait to be able to phone Eiji. He had to get the current visitors out of the room. Certainly a few of them had turned pale and Fuji was surprised to acknowledge that Davide hadn't said anything up to that point. "I mean I did have to have surgery and …" with that Kisarazu jumped up from where he had been leaning against one of the walls and walked towards the door.

"Kisarazu?" Saeki asked looking behind him at the leaving tennis player.

"I'm leaving" was the firm reply, his face was hidden from view by his cap as he left the room and Itsuki was soon out following him asking why once again. Kentaro almost bounced out of the door to try and get them to come back, whilst only a minute later Amane and Kurobane followed. Saeki watched the doorway for another couple of minutes before standing from the bedside chair and walked to the door as well.

"I wish you the best of luck with whatever your trying to do," he said "and it's good to see you recovering Fuji" Fuji gave a nod in appreciation as Saeki walked out and closed the door softly. Fuji lay there for what he guessed was about ten minutes before lifting himself from the bed slowly, chucking the duvet away to the left side, swivelling himself around so he was able to hang legs out over the right hand side of the bed, the side nearest to the door. He gathered walking to the nurse's station would case a lot more panic and make things go a lot faster than it would be if he pressed the button. Just as he was deciding to slip down the door opened again and he looked up, thinking it was one of the Rokkaku team whom had forgotten something. The hauntingly blue eyes opened wide as he watched the Rikkaidai team instead walk in, followed at the end by Yukimura holding some flowers in his arms. Silently Fuji cursed himself, swivelling himself back into the bed.

'Eiji, you better be ready for me' Fuji thought to himself as he prepared himself for another long conversation.

* * *

G**AH! Tearing my hair out over this chapter. First it was difficult to type, second I have been kidnapped by my mother! She wants me to do leaflets and websites for her, so she can start her self-employment thingy, me of all people! And my brother just decided he was going to bundle it on me as well but not helping and moaning when ever he has to do help. So that's why there has been no chapter for 3 days. Its also slightly harder to type for some reason at home, different enviroment. **

**GOMEN NASAI!**

**walaakongkwenta:** where you pressing enter every line or so? It was hard to read your review but yes I did miss you! I don't enjoy hurting Fuji, well maybe I do slightly. It's just Fuji presents himself as a person who does that kind of thing. I feel sorry for Eiji as well, really sorry  
**BF:** And Fuji did find out what happened to him, in little detail but enough to get him moving ... Fuji is proving interesting at the moment**XxTooyaLoxX:** wow lots of giggles and new reviewer! HOI HOI! Glad you like the story~  
**elementalcat:** you think so? Wow okay. Only I think I would have reviewers killing me if I didn't bring Eiji's memories back, although I take into consideration your point as well  
**demoncat13:**I'm not telling you who the other person was ... you'll have to think of that on your own

**Review please! Oh and please can you answer this following questions so I can understand what you think should happen and if things should happen etc**

**1) Should Eiji get his memories back?**  
**2) Should Fuji get his memories back?**  
**3) How do you think Eiji should get his memories back if he does?**  
**4) How do you think Fuji should get his memories back if he does?**


	57. Chapter 56

Momo watched Eiji gaze in amazement at the trophies that lined the case; each seemingly polished and gleamed to the highest standard as was expected of such important things. Several flags lined the hallway besides it; the one hanging over the trophy case was Seigaku's school flag. The old vice-captain of the tennis team was stood with his right leg against the wall; his hands were tightly tucked behind his back. The hallways were quiet due to the fact that this time was beginning used for the clubs to practice or for the third years of the middle school, study time in order to pass their entrance exams into high school. Momo was taking the time in order to show Eiji around the school to see if that brought any sparks back to the red head's memory. Oishi had phoned him yesterday with information about what had happened when he had disappeared only five days ago and apparently had only reappeared back at school for lessons and the tennis practice according to Inui who kept it constant touch with Horio for some strange reason, all Momo knew was that the boy had become very knowledgeable over the course of the year, much like the data tennis player himself and although had not gained the position of captain, had become the only vice captain of the middle school tennis team. Kachiro had actually gained the position of captain, which was a huge surprise to many, improving over the two years quite quickly and had become even more loyal to the team. Momo was sure that Kaidoh had become soft over the course of winning their second national title.

"Momo," the voice brought Momo quickly out of his thoughts, having to shake his head to clear them quickly. The red head presumably hadn't noticed, as he was still staring at the trophies or one in particular.

"Yes Eiji-sempai?" Momo asked pushing himself away from the wall and walking over to the red head, who didn't even seem to notice that Momo had come closer.

"It says my name on there," Eiji said pointing at one of the trophies; Momo followed the pointing of the finger to the gleaming bamboo and gold trophy. It had been made and presented to the tennis team nearly two years ago by the school who wished to remember the fact that they had won the nationals for the first time in years and decided the flag which they had to give back at the beginning of every national finals was not enough.

"Yes, everyone had their name inscribed on it," Momo pointed to the nine small golden shields around the larger square of gold which had inscribed the year and 'tennis national winners' on it. Each nine gold shield had individual names on it. "See there's Inui-sempai, Kawamura-sempai, Kaidoh and Echizen down the left column down, Tezuka at the bottom underneath it and then my name, Fuji-sempai's name, your name and then Oishi-sempai. We were all there at the assembly when they presented it. Head teacher made a huge long embarrassing speech about it. My legs were aching after that I remember that much. He could have just got Tezuka to go up and listen instead of all us."

"I … don't remember," Eiji said stepping away from the glass case, his hands slipping from the clean surface where they had been pressed up tight against them, his gaze dropping to the floor quite visibly as his whole head sagged down as well. Momo could see the emotion in Eiji's eyes building back up to that dark sadness he had seen what felt so long ago, when he came out of hospital room and out of the hospital altogether.

"That's fine Eiji-sempai. You were only looking at it, you didn't have to remember," Momo said comfortingly, although he did wish that Eiji would remember at least one thing. Not for the first time he cursed Smith who had gotten away with the plea of insanity and was now supposedly locked away safely. They said that about Saotome and he had managed to overdose himself and was now actually allowed home by the courts under supervision. The scar on the back of Momo's right leg tingled slightly with pain and he absently rubbed at it.

"Shall we go to the tennis courts next? Or Ryuzaki sensei said we could drop in whenever we wanted to if she was free, which I believe she is." He said straightening up from where he had been crouching to get at the back of his leg. Eiji hadn't made any comment on that move. Momo felt his shoulders sag slightly and with a deep breath he turned and started towards the stairs which would lead them to the tennis courts, expecting Eiji to follow, although he would check when he got to the staircase. Momo didn't even get that far.

"Momo," the boy stopped in mid-step and did a turn looking at Eiji who was now staring at him rather than the grey and uninteresting floor.

"Is something wrong Eiji-sempai?"

"Your weird Momo," Eiji started only to be quickly interrupted by Momo.

"Why is it something I'm doing wrong? I can get Echizen or Mamushi to take you around if you want" Momo said with a hint of panic in his voice pointing backwards where if he went far enough he would get to their classroom. Whoever had decided to put Echizen, Kaidoh and Momo in one class for the third year had made a serve mistake as bickering between Kaidoh and Momo had started on day one, much to the amusement of the other students and the horror of the teacher. Echizen had learnt to just sleep through all these long lasting arguments.

"No! No! I didn't mean that! Well I did but then I didn't mean it … Nya! I give up!" Eiji said getting himself thoroughly confused and in the end threw his hands up in the air, a pout forming on his face.

"What did you mean Eiji-sempai?" Momo asked now immensely curious as to why he was weird.

"I mean, with people like Taka-san, Inui and Kaidoh I feel like I can be someone else entirely, with Oishi I feel like I can jump about and not have to worry about anything in the world. Well you all make me feel like that but Oishi more. With you however, it's different. I feel like I have to protect you from something, I feel like I've seen you in dream somewhere but can't remember it when I wake up. It's almost like I have to protect you in the same I want to protect Shu … Fuji," Eiji corrected himself, it was rare he did it now, Momo remembered Oishi telling him over the phone as the vice captain had asked Momo to show Eiji around. "But I don't know what I want to protect you from which makes it even worse. I even hear you sometimes in my dreams; you're saying random things which I can't pick up." The red head finished as he came up besides Momo, who was more confused than ever and probably showing on his face, the way that Eiji had flinched when he had looked at him. Momo was never happier to know that Kaidoh was in a different room studying; otherwise his life would have been hell for the next couple of years. Kaidoh, the annoying snake, as Momo sometimes put him as, had an interesting habit of remembering things from their first year when they had become rivals. Things that often came back to haunt Momo, even more during their third year.

"Well I don't need protecting Eiji-sempai!" Momo declared loudly in the middle of the deserted hallway, raising his right hand in the air like it was a declaration that needed the full works. He lowered his arm and gave a smile to his follow companion which was not returned because Eiji was looking even more frustrated with his lack of memories. Taking a few steps to figure out what he could do, he managed to trip over his own right foot and was sent tumbling to the ground. He frowned at the grey flooring as he picked himself up, taking a lot longer than he had down to fall down in the first place, hearing a giggle from behind. Pausing in his quest to get off the floor, Momo looked behind and saw Eiji trying to cover his mouth to presumably stop the giggles like the one he had heard. The amusement on Eiji's face was clear, all the frustration wiped out of existence. Whilst normally Momo would curse his clumsiness, he was gratefully for it this time.

"Hoi apart from yourself it seems Momo" Eiji said coming over and holding out his left hand to help Momo up the rest of the way. Momo took it gratefully and stood with ease. Although not his original plan which he had just thought of before he had tripped, it had worked. Momo's stomach gave him the next idea.

"Eiji-sempai! You want to go past the canteen and see if they have any ice cream left? They always make too much for this time of year and then have to give it away after lunch; they normally give it to us third years! We can go on to the tennis courts after that" Momo said, hoping the red head boy would say yes because the ruffian of Seigaku really liked the ice cream the canteen produced. Eiji laughed.  
"Nya! Oishi warned me about your stomach!" Eiji couldn't stop giving small fits of giggles now as they escaped from his mouth. A broad smile stretched across his face. "Alright. Let's go!" he said as Momo grabbed Eiji's left wrist and started pulling him towards the stairs, memories for the time being forgotten.

* * *

**YAY! I completed a chapter in a day! WOOP! Might be getting back into the rythmn or maybe not, depending on how long this website takes me to build ... gah ... so annoying. **

**Elementcat:** Your the reason I actually asked people on what they thought.

**Sherlockdetective99:** I might be getting close to tearing it out again over my mum's stuff ... Lol, I can imagine Fuji doing that too, at least I am still able to write as Fuji after making him with memory loss for about 30 chapters O_O**  
XxTooyaLoxX:** Your thoughts will be well counted, thanks! ^-^  
**BF:** I would have loved to see that conversation, however it would have been a pain to write. I can imagine Rikkai as a challenge to get out of the room, a huge challenge, even more so with Yukimaru. Thanks for telling me my mistake! I corrected it  
**eijikikumarufan01:** I HOPE YOU HAVE SLEPT MISSY! I don't want you becoming sick Lol but it's good to see you back again!  
**demoncat13:**it would have become an interesting conversation if I had continued on which I didn't because it would have been a pain to write. Yes now you have said that I can imagine that as well. it's amusing

**YAY! Please review! Oh and for the last chapter I might hold a few surprises for some certain reviewers**


	58. Chapter 57

Who knew that getting to a phone would require so much time and effort? After an interesting talk with Rikkaidai, with whom he didn't try the same technique as he had done with Rokkaku. They would probably want to stay more if he started on the details. Two days since he had made his mind up to phone Eiji and it was only now that all the other school teams decided to visit him? It was like fate had something against him; Yumiko could have warned him about it in advance! She probably saw it in her readings and decided to let it play out. 'It would be like her to do that and it wasn't the first time either', Fuji thought bitterly to himself as he stared out of the bedroom window, wondering how to escape from the room this time. His wrist had been broken in an incident in England involving Smith according to Rikkaidai, as had been reported to the newspapers where much of the information of their living conditions in England had been published during the long trial. Fuji didn't really even have the chance today to grab hold of a phone due to the factor of he had been dismissed from hospital today and had been brought home. It was weird being around his family; they acted almost distant and aloof from him, unsure of how to handle him. It was proving awkward but he had to factor into that when wanting to get hold a phone. He noticed his own phone that had been in his room, as Yuuta had pointed out earlier today when walking, much confused, had decided to grow legs and walk, and probably into his parent's bedroom knowing his luck at the moment and knowing his parents as well was always a helpful task.

Glancing at the bedroom door again Fuji bit his lip, narrowing his open eyes to a deadly glare which could have made any door in his way jump open for him, if they were alive. Listening to the sounds of people moving around downstairs, Fuji was weighing up his chances of being caught if he left his room and went into his parent's room to grab the phone on their bedside cabinet. If it was still there, it had been a year and a half ago, although it didn't feel that way. Preparing to go to the U-17 tournament had only seemed like last week. Although sometimes Fuji had a sense that there had been a place where time had no meaning, it was simply drifting. However he couldn't put a finger on it, so in the mist of trying to get hold of Eiji he just let it escape.

Slowly Fuji stood as he counted the number of people he estimated were downstairs, four, meaning the family were probably talking about him. With eased light footsteps, Fuji made his way to the door and out into the hallway, creating as little noise as possible. It wasn't far to his parents' room, which was situated at the end of the hallway, but there was a creaky floorboard that was loose if he remembered correctly, only just in front of it and was unavoidable unless you knew how to step around it and where to step. Slowly and carefully Fuji found himself inside his parents' room and was amazed at the sight he came across on the walls. Scattered along the wall was newspaper clips, pictures. His face staring back at him, that smiling face which seemed so carefree, probably taken from holiday photos that the family had spent together although that had been few and far between due to his father's work. Headlines blared out at him, words 'missing' 'kidnapping' 'abuse' 'torture through tennis'. There was even Momo and Eiji faces' on some of newspaper clips. All around, surrounding up to the wall, covered in black and white type writer font, it was like watching a horror movie when the main character was about to be murder by the monster, expect Fuji felt he was in this horror movie. As he slowly stepped up to one of them, running his hand over it slowly, like he would feel something else, he read the information supplied below. This one was entitled 'A Failure' as its main headline. It went on to describe a Coach Saotome's final statement and Fuji felt almost like he could hear the man talking behind him, the voice becoming vivid in his head.

'I was promised wealth, good tennis players, a life of ease, no more losses, no more failures to teach and train. I was told that I could choose the players, I could pick any of them and train them anyway I liked, but I had to be harsh, I had to push them beyond their limits. I couldn't stand as a failure and neither could they. And you know what? They were right. When I had no restrictions, when I had nothing holding me back I was a winner. They listened to me or they suffered. How pitiful are the children who believe in fairy tales. They are the ones that believe they can win and become the best. They can't. They can never win unless they go through hell itself! I had to put them through hell, I had to. Or I could never win. They had to win so I could win. I was promised that I would win if I made them winners. Did I win? Did I win? He took them, so I must have won. My hand is shaking, why is it shaking? Maybe because I won. The wind's blowing. I can feel it. Maybe the wind's come to tell me if he's coming back. To tell me if I've won. He said that if made another winner I would win. I can't be a failure. I can't.'

Images, clips of things he couldn't place flashed into Fuji's head. He stumbled backwards until he had fallen on the bed, his breathing was harsh. His eyes were wide, fear was seeping into them. He felt a cold hand touch gently upon his right shoulder and he jumped violently from the bed standing with his back facing the article he had read. There was one in the room with him but Fuji found himself backing up against the wall, his right hand was shaking, his left felt numb. Lines of searing pain flashing across his back, along the scars for which no one had any explanation to, the shadows were forming themselves into a figure on the opposite side of the room. A figure Fuji didn't want to meet, short and fat, no hair across his head. A sense of panic, of the desperation to escape came over him. Glancing to his left to check the hand held phone was on the bedside locker; he grabbed at it and dashed out of the room, slamming his parents' door behind him as the shadow had started to move towards him.

Outside in the hallway Fuji noticed that Yuuta was at the top of the stairs, paused mid-step from the last step but one to the top, his eyes wide and curious as to why Fuji had come running out of his parents' room. Fuji only stared back for a while, his back facing the door, a weird silence falling over the hall and the two boys. A crash from inside his parents' room against the door made Fuji jump violently away, almost falling over his own feet.

"I need to call Eiji," was the only hurried explanation Fuji gave as he literally ran into his room, opening and closing the door within seconds. Sliding down the door, as if to protect himself from anyone trying to get in, Fuji punched in a familiar number, hoping the Kikumaru family hadn't disconnected their phone or moved in the gap of his memories. He hadn't though to ask and his parents weren't going to be keen to tell him. Holding the phone up against his ear Fuji listened to the dialling tone as it accepted the number and began to ring. He didn't care what happened later, in the mist of his panic and fear of what he had seen in his parents' room and the forming shadow combined with the sharp shots of pain, all matters of the future had no meaning. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another forming shadow of another man, tall and lean, another sense of panic coming over him as it began to take on more shape .The eyes that glistened, the hunchbacked form, the slow moving mouth. It began a slow swaying step towards him, the sent of alcohol overcoming him. A glistening knife in the hand of the shadow. The first and only thing when the person on the other end had picked up that came out of Fuji's mouth, even before the other person had started speaking was a soft whispered, "Eiji" as the darkness and shadow towered over him the knife raised above, sending Fuji spiralling into unconscious. The phone rolled out of his now relaxed hand and bounced against the drunken shadow.

* * *

**Hmmm ... I realised that although Fuji and Eiji both have different sets of memories, there is some memories which neither of them have and Momo has only part. So thats another possible set to give back to them. Oh I had a crazy moment during this, made a status on facebook which had a crazy monologue in it so I could get Saotome's state of mind. Sorry about the long wait, my laptop is on it's last legs and has been making me really tired and giving me headaches over the past few days.**

**walaakongkwenta:** Its fine. It was just unusual. I'm glad you found Fuji unable to escape funny. Yukimura is sweet when he's not playing tennis and he probably dragged the rest of rikkai along. I also miss the energtic Eiji. I hope he does make a comeback. Hopefully, maybe after I stop hurting Fuji so much ...  
**Elementcat:** Never mind. I liked Momo and Eiji bonding. Oh and Eiji does have a lasting side effect of his imprisionment.  
**Demoncat13:** Nope Saotome is not dead and yes Horio is vice-captain. I once read a fan fic where he was captain but I decided not to go as far as that.

**Reviews please ... please? Pretty please?**


	59. ignore please!

Gomenasai. I have not updated in a while and may not do for a few more days. Currently my laptop is going through a stage where the light in the screen which brightens it keeps on flashing and its making me incrediably tired and giving me headaches on the major side. I am currently looking at buying a new laptop, probably a new generation one but not for a while yet. So bare with me please.

What I am going to do when I feel up to it and am not so tired all the time is do all the new chapters offline so I know I have them ready and prepared and as soon as my story is complete offline they will be coming on. But for now. I am so very very sorry


	60. Chapter 58

It was kind of like watching a silent movie, complete with colour but no sound. The main character was walking around with a lost, confused feeling to his pace, looking over his shoulder even in his own room; reverting into himself, changing his own persona rapidly. Eiji had noted that Fuji had seemed particularly tensed up when he was around, more so than what Oishi had described Fuji as. They had all noticed, although Fuji had tried to hide it ineffectively. It had been a couple of days since Yuuta had phoned Eiji up saying that Fuji had fainted in his own room and refused to give a clear and coherent explanation for the reason why he had been out cold for several hours it seemed from the moment Yuuta had last seen Fuji with the strange expression on his face until his mother had screamed quite loudly at the sight of her son sprawled out over the bedroom floor. Fuji had quickly awoken after that. But since then, Eiji noticed another quick and almost unnoticeable glance back over at the door of the room as it slid open to reveal another member of the group, Fuji had started letting his guard down. Eiji turned a quick glance back to Oishi whom was more busy in making sure that Echizen, whom had been the one to enter the Kikumaru living room where they were meeting up today, was comfortable than looking over at Fuji. Eiji gave a small pout; only Yuuta and himself had been noticing the extent of Fuji's strange behaviour and were seeing though this mask the honey coloured haired tensai placed up.

Looking away to his right, opposite to where Fuji was kneeling next to him, Eiji tried getting his thoughts together. He was having weird dreams at night, and when he woke up he couldn't remember any of the dreams at all but somehow he knew they felt weird. In addition to his worries, his memories hadn't returned either, which was the reason why everyone was coming over to his house. It had become almost like a weekly event in which they brought pictures and discussed a life Eiji felt he couldn't access. He stood slowly, giving a quick glance around the room before heading towards the kitchen, thirsty although what he had been doing to make himself thirsty he had no idea.

It was as he was reaching for the cupboard where the glasses where held that he felt a tight grasp around his left elbow. Images of Smith and his vary methods of abuse fled back to Eiji. Jumping violently, he jerked his arm out of reach and stumbled backwards, into the wall of the kitchen which backed on to the living and slid down, short harsh gasps of breath could be heard as he tried to control his breathing closing his eyes. After a few seconds he re-opened his eyes slowly to see Fuji bending down in font of him, looking worried. Breathing a deep sigh, Eij gave a smile.

"Gomen," Fuji said softly. It was the first time Eiji had heard Fuji speak since he received that mysterious phone call with only his name spoken. It had made him panic, the voice had sounded so similar to Smith's.

"Fuji," Eiji whispered back as if not to disturb the busy room from next door, which was mainly consisting of Momo calling Kaidoh a 'mamushi' again. "What's wrong?" he asked hurriedly, a soft tone creeping, one he used to use with Fuji when they had still been brothers. They were still brothers in Eiji's opinion but he hadn't spoken that thought out loud.

"Eh?" Fuji looked surprised, almost falling over from his knelt position, surprised at the sudden question.

"Nya, Fuji. You've been really scared recently." Eiji said looking Fuji's eyes, which were open, seeing if there was anything there that would be able to tell him anything. Fuji just closed them and smiled, but it was enough time for his former brother to notice the horror, the memories of something that had previously been locked inside his head.

"Saa, now what could be wrong?" he replied with a teasing tone.

"Fuji," Eiji answered with a firm tone to his voice this time, which didn't work because Fuji just tilted his head, a smile plastered to his face.

"Eiji," Fuji said mockingly.

"Nya! Fuji!" The rising tone of Eiji's voice and the stubborn expression that had taken over his face caused Fuji's eyes to open and for him to grab Eiji by his arms holding the red head in his current position of being half risen.

"Eiji, calm down. There is nothing you can do."  
"But you could tell me what was wrong!" The stubborn expression was replaced by one of hurt.

"I don't think talking about my memories would help," Fuji said taking a deep breath and finally sitting down from his crouched position on the floor, his widened eyes looking anywhere but Eiji, as Fuji waited for the red head to digest the information he had just given. Fuji had known there was no way he could have kept the information from Eiji, not after what his memories had shown him; revealing it had been the hard part. All that could be heard was Kaidoh's hissing and Momo's loud eating habits as he was more than likely eating the cake that Eiji's mother had made before going to work.

It took a few minutes for Eiji to click slots together and get his mind working again .The red head's expression, Fuji thought to himself as he quickly slid a glance over at his best friend, was an open book to his inner thoughts. Upon realising that Eiji wouldn't be saying anything any time soon, Fuji decided to explain.

"It happened a few days ago. I remembered from seeing newspaper articles in my parents' room. Yuuta told me later that day that they had kept the articles during the time I had disappeared because they believed they might have found something the police or other people would have missed. Something to tell them where I was, if I was alive or dead, if I was well or sick, etc. I presume they hadn't had the time to take it down. But I remembered everything, from when we were in the cabin to the house in England."

"Th..The cabin?" A stuttering voice broke through Fuji's talk.

"Hmm, with Saotome" Fuji nodded. Eiji shook his head.

"I don't remember that. All I can remember is Smith and … and …"

"Our 'mother'?" Fuji said softly, moving so he was sitting on Eiji's left side and started to stroke the acrobatic tennis player's hair with his right hand. Eiji nodded in reply, leaning his head upon Fuji's right shoulder. They sat like that as the kitchen clock ticked away in the corner.

"Eiji?" Fuji whispered, as the sun's sky light colours were flooding into the room, indicating the beginning of the evening. Both pair had their eyes closed, a smile gracing their lips.

"Nya Fuji?" Eiji whispered in reply, like if they spoke loudly, they would intreprut the sound of laughter and loud chatter from the living room from their friends that was gracefully mingled with the sweet sense of the comforting silence in the kitchen, a hint of the deepest rose hanging around.

"I never meant to hurt you," Fuji said moving his hand from the top of Eiji's head and wrapping it around the boy in a one-armed hug. Eiji responded by wrapping both his arms around Fuji's chest. Still the clock ticked on, a peaceful lullaby.

"Fuji?" Eiji said softly, his eyes opening to stare at the wooden kitchen floor, smoothed and glowing with fire in the sunlight. Fuji's eyes opened a slight and looked at Eiji as the red head's voice combined itself with sleepiness. His head dropping slowly, in a wavering bob, in an obvious effort to stay awake.

"Hmm Eiji?"  
"We will always be brothers. Right?" Fuji smiled and leant his head back against the white washed wall, orange under the sun, warming him to the bone. His eyes closed again.

"Always Eiji. Always."

**POT**

It was a week after Fuji and Eiji had their talk in the kitchen and the sun on its high glory time of mid-afternoon found Fuji walking thumbing some papers, along the quiet road. He had been asked by his parents to deliver them this morning to the Kikumaru house, as they had rushed out to work and that's how he ended up walking behind Oishi whom had realised, with a quite a surprise, a few minutes ago that he had been walking behind. That had been an interesting laugh, as Fuji hadn't meant to be a shadow and had certainly not been quiet about it. He was headed over to Eiji's house to go through the photos, although by now everyone knew there wasn't anything jogging his memories. Fuji looked up at Oishi, after finishing looking at the papers, happy to know that they were transfer papers for Seigaku High School. The vice-captain was stood staring at the Kikumaru house, a frown across his face. Fuji's eyes fluttered open before quickly shutting again as he ran up besides him.

"What's wrong?"

"It looks empty," Oishi replied, a hollow tone to his voice, pain seeping in. Fuji turned his head to look at the house, noticing the lights were off, there was no noisy chatter from Eiji's siblings whom had come home within the last month, as he had been told. He pushed open the gate, a hurried alarm to his step. This wasn't right. He curled his right hand into a fist and as he placed it on the door to knock, it swung inwards. The lights were off in the hallway; still no life could be heard. Fuji's eyes opened further as Oishi promptly made his way past Fuji and into the house, the tensai noticing the pale look and horror. Everything was as it had been when they had last seen Eiji a week ago.

It was coming up to two hours from when they had first arrived that Fuji and Oishi were forced to admit, Oishi in a emotionless tone, that Eiji and his family had disappeared.

* * *

**And I'm back again, probably briefly. Getting my new laptop tomorrow but I had started this in 2007 format so I need to finish incase I don't get a 2007 complitable program on my new laptop. Just to tell you the state of my laptop.**  
**I say hello to a mr green line down the middle of my screen nearly every day now, the system has nearly gone, wants to do disc checks everytime I come on, oh the screen cover in the bottom left hand corner is splattered cakted. Its cracked and broken.**

**Sorry if this chapter isn't any good, I really am but I need to do this before my laptop is gone for good, which should be tomorrow. And yes I left this chapter on a cliffhanger! Sorry!**

**Eijikikumarufan01:** Its far too evil for my liking, my laptop is like Saotome. Lol, your hate has been renewed. And I have finished uni first year and hoping to get through. Oh I'm learning Japanese romaji and kanji. Its interesting. I learnt a bit about sentence structure which was good. Just wondering, do you know what Charlotte would be in Kanji?  
**Kitty723:** HOI HOI! Thank you!  
**ElementalCat:** Really? Okay. I'll take that in mind, if I go back over this story. (It was only meant to be 10,000 words!)  
**demoncat13: **You really want those coaches dead don't you?

**Okay, next chapter will be the last! That I can promise you and I will try not be so long in updating it! Please be patient with me and give me a little more time!**


	61. Chapter 59

Fuji leant against the outside wall of the school grounds, facing the road. His eyes were closed and his hands were behind his back, his new school bag was held in his left hand where it had remained from where he had picked it up this morning as he had taken the lonely route to Seigaku High School. His black brand new tennis bag, he would have been quite happy with his old one, however his parents had wanted to get him a new one as the old one had been locked away in his room and had gained dust in the one an a half to two years he had been missing. 'Unsuitable to use' as his father had put it calling from his study downstairs. Fuji was glad for that change, he had learnt a lot more about his father since he had kidnapped than he had in his life up to that previous point. He had told his family about the returning of his memories and had his parents' reassurances that the newspaper clips would be removed. Yumiko had told him later that it had been their way of trying to find any clues to his disappearance, anything to tell them he was alive or dead, if he was safe or still huge amounts of danger and if he was trying to get home. Naturally their questions had gone unanswered which had left them with two very different futures but they had still done it, to give them hope. Now Fuji was loosing hope.

It was April and everyone was arriving back at the high school, Momo, Kaidoh and Echizen had all passed their entrance exams and were successfully joining them. They had told him one or two minutes before Fuji had to tell them that Eiji and his family had disappeared. It had been at Kawamura's restaurant, the boy had opened it only for the event of celebrating the success, for it to turn into, what Momo had described as another sad meeting, very similar to what the Seigaku tennis team, minus Eiji and Fuji and plus Yuuta, had done through out the long waiting period. Oishi had been deathly silent since finding the empty house, not talking to anyone, Fuji had even been told by Tezuka that all Oishi did on some days was stare outside from his position sitting on his chair. Certainly the only time Fuji had seen the vice captain was at the meeting at Kawamura's and he hadn't said anything then.

He knew for a fact he wouldn't see Inui, Kawamura, Tezuka or Oishi due to the fact that they were starting the tennis practice early. He was told that he could sign onto the tennis team at the lunch period, so he didn't join all rabble of the freshman. It was a welcoming pleasure to know Kawamura was still carrying on with tennis. The Seigaku team didn't seem right without its number one power player, but then again none of this felt right. Although he knew all of his memories now, it felt like they were separated, and there were bits missing, both from his life before the kidnapping and during. He would sometimes come unstuck on the most simple of things, and it became somewhat slightly bothersome when he was suddenly left wondering about something that he felt he should know.

Looking at the school gates, Fuji frowned. He knew he had to go through them and go and find out which class he would be in, who is homeroom tutor would be and what the school layout was like etc. Something kept pulling him back though, telling him to wait. Well if waited much longer he would be late, Fuji reasoned with himself. He had already seen Momo cycle past, mouth full of some sort of food, probably a meat bun, Echizen holding on the back. They weren't without their most essential items of tennis gear, even though they probably wouldn't play on the first day. He gathered that Kaidoh was probably already at school, if memory played true then Kaidoh had always come in early in middle school.

Sliding down the brick wall into a crouched position, Fuji looked at his tennis bag, taking himself miles away from the rest of the world so he wouldn't worry about being on time. He didn't think the teachers expected him to be on time, according to the teacher he had spoken with over the phone; they had all the details from the police about the now closed case and was told to take his time, in that same patronising tone that he always used when teasing someone. Reaching out for his tennis bag, Fuji was suddenly bowled over as something jumped on his back.

"Nya! Gomen Fujiko." Came the apologetic tone, Fuji froze at the word choice and sound of the voice, although the person behind didn't seem to notice. "I thought you would have noticed me!" Fuji turned himself around slowly to look at the offending person who was stood there with a pout on his face. Red hair, accompanied with the black uniform of the school, a tennis bag over his right shoulder and a school bag in hand. Blue eyes stared down at him.

"Saa Eiji you need to be more careful," Fuji said calmly, although inside he could feel his whole body wanting to explode with questions and joy at the fact that the person whom he had thought had disappeared was now standing in front of him. Fuji picked up his tennis bag and slung it over his left shoulder before slowly standing up. This gave him enough time to recompose himself before asking the question that had been playing on his mind for a while. "Where were you Eiji?"

"Nya! Gomen Fuji, I didn't mean to disappear. I'm sorry. My parents suddenly appeared at my bedroom door and said they were taking me somewhere, packing a small bag for me and next thing I knew I was in the car driving somewhere. It seemed that they had found someone who had been successful in helping people regain their memories after they've lost them, say in an accident or in my case. Anyway she was this really creepy old woman Fujiko!"

"Eiji you shouldn't call her a creepy old woman."

"Your right, anyway she had hair all over the place, she was really pale, she looked like Momo after he's had Inui's juice. Which reminds me, I wonder if Inui still makes his juice, I hope he doesn't."

"Saa, Eiji you're getting distracted." Fuji reminded the hyperactive red head boy.

"Hai, erm well anyway she said that she did it really scientifically, and she put me to sleep whilst she did something. I remembered I had a really weird dream, but I can't remember what was in it. I know that it had lots of people in it and some of it was really scary. When I next woke up I had been told I had been asleep for a week!" Eiji said almost jogging on the spot. "I didn't mean to not tell you and Oishi, and everyone but I had no choice."

"Well you can explain that to Oishi later, he's been really lonely without you." Fuji said. Eiji's face grew alarmed.

"Oishi's been lonely? But how? He's got Tezuka and Taka and Inui…"

"Never mind Eiji, I think Oishi will feel a lot better after he sees you, after we get to class. The bell is about to go, you're late." Fuji said glancing a look down at his watch before trailing back to Eiji's face.  
"Nya! That's not my fault! My sisters turned off my alarm last night and then nobody woke me up until fifteen minutes ago. Then I had to run here! It's not my fault I'm late!" Eiji protested as Fuji just smiled, leading the way into the school building. Things were getting back into shape, but they could never be normal. Well what could be called normal around the Middle School students who had once made up the middle school tennis national winners?

* * *

**Yes it may not be the best ending but this is the way I feel it should end, you can imagine up some other ending if you wish. **

**Thank you for everyone who has supported me all the way through this story, thank you so much! Thank you, thank you, thank you. **

**I am quite impressed with this story as it was orginally meant to be 10,000 words!  
**

**kitty723:** I passed on your message and here it is updated and finished

**eijikikumarufan01:** I hope your exams go well! Thank you for explaining that to me. Thank you for your support, thank you so much!

**ElementalCat:** I have my new laptop, but no word program, so I'm still stuck on this laptop until I can get a word program (I ordered one today). I don't know what I would do for a sequel of prequel, you could do one if you so wish

**Vermouth01:**Thank you!

**Thank you once again! I hope you enjoyed reading it**  
**A new story is about to come up, just the first chapter. Yes it is about Oishi, however please read it before you start making presumptions. Its not going to be what you think**


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